A. Any responsible individual may apply for a court-ordered evaluation of a person who is alleged to be, as a result of a mental disorder, a danger to self or to others or a person with a persistent or acute disability or a grave disability and who is unwilling or unable to undergo a voluntary evaluation. The application shall be made in the prescribed form and manner as adopted by the director.

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 36-520

  • Adult: means a person who has attained eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Court: means the superior court in the county in this state in which the patient resides or was found before screening or emergency admission under this title. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Danger to others: means that the judgment of a person who has a mental disorder is so impaired that the person is unable to understand the person's need for treatment and as a result of the person's mental disorder the person's continued behavior can reasonably be expected, on the basis of competent medical opinion, to result in serious physical harm. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Department: means the department of health services. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Director: means the director of the administration. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Evaluation: means :

    (a) A professional multidisciplinary analysis that may include firsthand observations or remote observations by interactive audiovisual media and that is based on data describing the person's identity, biography and medical, psychological and social conditions carried out by a group of persons consisting of at least the following:

    (i) Two licensed physicians who are qualified psychiatrists, if possible, or at least experienced in psychiatric matters, who shall examine and report their findings independently. See Arizona Laws 36-501

  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Grave disability: means a condition evidenced by behavior in which a person, as a result of a mental disorder, is likely to come to serious physical harm or serious illness because the person is unable to provide for the person's own basic physical needs. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Mental disorder: means a substantial disorder of the person's emotional processes, thought, cognition or memory. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Patient: means any person who is undergoing examination, evaluation or behavioral or mental health treatment under this chapter. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Persistent or acute disability: means a severe mental disorder that meets all the following criteria:

    (a) Significantly impairs judgment, reason, behavior or capacity to recognize reality. See Arizona Laws 36-501

  • Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Prepetition screening: means the review of each application requesting court-ordered evaluation, including an investigation of facts alleged in the application, an interview with each applicant and an interview, if possible, with the proposed patient. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Prescribed form: means a form established by a court or the rules of the administration in accordance with the laws of this state. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Proposed patient: means a person for whom an application for evaluation has been made or a petition for court-ordered evaluation has been filed. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Screening agency: means a health care agency that is licensed by the department and that provides those services required of the agency by this chapter. See Arizona Laws 36-501
  • Voluntary evaluation: means the ongoing collection and analysis of a person's medical, psychological, psychiatric and social conditions in order to initially determine if a health disorder exists and if there is a need for behavioral health services and, on an ongoing basis, to ensure that the person's service plan is designed to meet the person's and the person's family's current needs and long-term goals. See Arizona Laws 36-501

B. The application for evaluation shall include the following data:

1. The name, and address if known, of the proposed patient for whom evaluation is applied.

2. The age, date of birth, sex, race, marital status, occupation, social security number, present location, dates and places of previous hospitalizations, names and addresses of the guardian, spouse, next of kin and significant other persons and other data that the director may require on the form to whatever extent that this data is known and is applicable to the proposed patient.

3. The name, address and relationship of the person who is applying for the evaluation.

4. A statement that the proposed patient is believed to be, as a result of a mental disorder, a danger to self or to others or a patient with a persistent or acute disability or a grave disability and the facts on which this statement is based.

5. A statement that the applicant believes the proposed patient is in need of supervision, care and treatment and the facts on which this statement is based.

C. The application shall be signed and notarized.

D. The screening agency shall offer assistance to the applicant in preparation of the application. On receipt of the application, the screening agency shall act as prescribed in section 36-521 within forty-eight hours of the filing of the application excluding weekends and holidays. If the application is not acted upon within forty-eight hours, the reasons for not acting promptly shall be reviewed by the director of the screening agency or the director’s designee.

E. If the applicant for the court-ordered evaluation presents the person to be evaluated at the screening agency, the agency shall conduct a prepetition screening examination. Except in the case of an emergency evaluation, the person to be evaluated shall not be detained or forced to undergo prepetition screening against the person’s will.

F. If the applicant for the court-ordered evaluation does not present the person to be evaluated at the screening agency, the agency shall conduct the prepetition screening at the home of the person to be evaluated or any other place the person to be evaluated is found. If prepetition screening is not possible, the screening agency shall proceed as in section 36-521, subsection B.

G. If a person is being treated by prayer or spiritual means alone in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner of that church or denomination, such person may not be ordered evaluated, detained or involuntarily treated unless the court has determined that the person is, as a result of mental disorder, a danger to others or to self.

H. Court-ordered evaluation or treatment pursuant to this chapter does not operate to change the legal residence of a patient.

I. If the application is not acted on because it has been determined that the proposed patient does not need an evaluation, the agency after a period of six months shall destroy the application and any other evidence of the application.

J. For the purposes of this section, "person" includes a person who:

1. Is under eighteen years of age.

2. Has been transferred to the criminal division of the superior court pursuant to section 8-327 or who has been charged with an offense pursuant to section 13-501.

3. Is under the supervision of an adult probation department.

 

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