In re Gladstone

OPINION OF THE COURT

Bertram Katz, J.

A voluntary patient who seeks his release from a psychiatric hospital under section 9.13 of the Mental Hygiene Law is entitled to such release where the hospital, in the absence of extenuating factors, fails to abide by its statutory duty to move within 72 hours to retain the patient. Because the Bronx Psychiatric Center has wholly failed to comply with its duty of *647moving expeditiously, and has offered no excuse for this failure, this court has directed that the patient, Scott Gladstone, be released according to law, and that the instant proceedings for…