IF

(1) a person with mental illness or serious emotional disturbance was committed involuntarily under chapter 6, part 5 of this title, AND

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 33-6-601

  • Consent: means voluntary agreement to what is reasonably well understood regardless of how the agreement is expressed. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
  • Hospital: means a public or private hospital or facility or part of a hospital or facility equipped to provide inpatient care and treatment for persons with mental illness or serious emotional disturbance. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
  • Mental illness: means a psychiatric disorder, alcohol dependence, or drug dependence, but does not include intellectual disability or other developmental disabilities as defined in title 52. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Qualified mental health professional: means a person who is licensed in the state, if required for the profession, and who is a psychiatrist. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
  • Serious emotional disturbance: means a condition in a child who currently or at any time during the past year has had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet psychiatric diagnostic criteria that results in functional impairment that substantially interferes with or limits the child's role or functioning in family, school, or community activities and includes any mental disorder, regardless of whether it is of biological etiology. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
(2) the hospital staff determines preliminarily that:

(A) the person will need to participate in outpatient treatment on discharge, and
(B) there is a likelihood that the discharge will be subject to the outpatient treatment obligation of this part, AND
(3) the person refuses to give consent to disclose information that is legally confidential under this title to the proposed outpatient qualified mental health professional,

THEN

(4) the hospital and qualified mental health professional may exchange information as necessary to carry out this part.