Texas Health and Safety Code 571.002 – Purpose
Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code 571.002
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
The purpose of this subtitle is to provide to each person having severe mental illness access to humane care and treatment by:
(1) facilitating treatment in an appropriate setting;
(2) enabling the person to obtain necessary evaluation, care, treatment, and rehabilitation with the least possible trouble, expense, and embarrassment to the person and the person’s family;
(3) eliminating, if requested, the traumatic effect on the person’s mental health of public trial and criminal-like procedures;
(4) protecting the person’s right to a judicial determination of the person’s need for involuntary treatment;
(5) defining the criteria the state must meet to order involuntary care and treatment;
(6) establishing the procedures to obtain facts, carry out examinations, and make prompt and fair decisions;
(7) safeguarding the person’s legal rights so as to advance and not impede the therapeutic and protective purposes of involuntary care; and
(8) safeguarding the rights of the person who voluntarily requests inpatient care.