229.39  Status of persons hospitalized under former law.
  1.  Each person admitted or committed to a hospital for treatment of mental illness on or before December 31, 1975 who remained so hospitalized, or was on convalescent leave or was receiving care in another facility on transfer from such hospitalization, on or after January 1, 1976 shall be considered to have been hospitalized under this chapter, and its provisions shall apply to each such person on and after the effective date of this section, except as otherwise provided by subsection 3.
  2.  Hospitalization of a person for treatment of mental illness, either voluntary or involuntary, on or before December 31, 1975 does not constitute a finding nor equate with nor raise a presumption of incompetency, nor cause the person hospitalized to be deemed a person of unsound mind nor a person under legal disability for any purpose, including but not limited to the circumstances enumerated in section 229.27, subsection 1. This subsection does not invalidate any specific declaration of incompetence of a person hospitalized if the declaration was made pursuant to a separate procedure authorized by law for that purpose, and did not result automatically from the person’s hospitalization.
  3.  Where a person was hospitalized involuntarily for treatment of mental illness on or before December 31, 1975 and remained so hospitalized, or was on convalescent leave or was receiving care in another facility on transfer from such hospitalization, on or after January 1, 1976, but was subsequently discharged prior to July 1, 1978, this section shall not be construed to require:
  a.  The filing after July 1, 1978, of any report relative to that person’s status which would have been required to be filed prior to said date if that person had initially been hospitalized under this chapter as amended by
 1975 Iowa Acts, ch. 139, §1 to 30
.
  b.  That legal proceedings be taken under this chapter, as so amended, to clarify the status of the person so hospitalized, unless that person or the district court considers such proceedings necessary in a particular case to appropriately conclude the matter.
[C79, 81, §229.39]
2011 Acts, ch 34, §56; 2014 Acts, ch 1026, §143