§ 43A-5-415. Hearing – Order - Records.

A.  Upon receiving a petition alleging a person to be a person requiring treatment, the court shall set a day and time for the hearing.

1.  If the person alleged to be a person requiring treatment does not have an attorney, the court shall immediately appoint an attorney for the person.

2.  If a copy of a mental health evaluation is not attached to the petition at the time it is filed, the court shall immediately order a mental health evaluation of the person as provided by Section 5-414 of this title.

B.  If the court deems it necessary, or if the person alleged to be a person requiring treatment demands, the court shall schedule the hearing on the petition as a jury trial to be held within one hundred twenty (120) hours or five (5) days of the demand, excluding weekends and holidays, or within as much additional time as is requested by the attorney of such person upon good cause shown.

C.  The court, at the hearing on the petition, shall determine by clear and convincing evidence whether the person is a person requiring treatment.

1.  The court shall take evidence and make findings of fact concerning the person's competency to consent to or refuse the treatment that may be ordered, including, but not limited to, the consumer's right to refuse medication.

2.  If a jury trial is not demanded, the court may receive as evidence and act upon the affidavits of the licensed mental health professionals who evaluated the person and the mental health evaluation.

3.  When the hearing is conducted as a jury trial, the petitioner and any witness in behalf of the petitioner shall be subject to cross-examination by the attorney for the person alleged to be a person requiring treatment.  The person alleged to be a person requiring treatment may also be called as a witness and cross-examined.

D.  After the hearing, when the court determines that the person is not a person requiring treatment, the court shall dismiss the petition and, if the person is being detained, order the person to be discharged from detention.

E.  After the hearing, when the court determines the person to be a person requiring treatment, the court shall order the person to receive the least restrictive treatment consistent with the treatment needs of the person and the safety of the person and others.

1.  The court shall not order hospitalization without a thorough consideration of available treatment alternatives to hospitalization and may direct the submission of evidence as to the least restrictive treatment alternative or may order a mental health examination.

2.  If the court finds that a program other than hospitalization is appropriate to meet the treatment needs of the individual and is sufficient to prevent injury to the individual or to others, the court may order the individual to receive whatever treatment other than hospitalization that is appropriate for a period set by the court, during which time the court shall continue its jurisdiction over the individual as a person requiring treatment.

3.  If the court orders the person to be committed for involuntary inpatient treatment, the court shall commit the person to the custody of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for a placement that is suitable to the person's needs or to a private facility willing to accept the person for treatment.

4.  The person shall be delivered to the custody of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for a placement that is suitable to the person's needs or to a private facility willing to accept the person for treatment.

5.  If the person is placed in the custody of the Department, the Department may designate two or more facilities to provide treatment and if the person to be treated or a parent, spouse, guardian, brother, sister or child, who is at least eighteen (18) years of age, of the person, expresses a preference for one such facility, the Department shall attempt, if administratively possible, to comply with the preference.

6.  The person shall be discharged from inpatient treatment at such time as the person no longer requires treatment as determined by the executive director of the facility or the designee of the executive director, or as otherwise required by law.

F.  The court shall make and keep records of all cases brought before it.

1.  No records of proceedings pursuant to this section shall be open to public inspection except by order of the court or to employees of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the person's attorney of record, the person's treatment advocate as defined pursuant to Section 1-109.1 of this title, if any, a person having a valid power of attorney with health care decision-making authority, a person having valid guardianship with health care decision-making authority, a person having an advance health care directive, a person having an attorney-in-fact as designated in a valid mental health advance directive or persons having a legitimate treatment interest, unless specifically indicated otherwise by the instrument or court order.  The documents shall not identify the alleged person requiring treatment directly or indirectly as a person with a substance abuse disorder.

2.  Bonded abstractors may be deemed to be persons having a legitimate interest for the purpose of having access to records regarding determinations of persons requiring treatment under this section.

Added by Laws 1997, c. 387, § 9, eff. Nov. 1, 1997.  Amended by Laws 2002, c. 488, § 42, eff. Nov. 1, 2002; Laws 2005, c. 150, § 48, emerg. eff. May 9, 2005; Laws 2006, c. 97, § 22, eff. Nov. 1, 2006; Laws 2010, c. 287, § 30, eff. Nov. 1, 2010; Laws 2013, c. 3, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2013; Laws 2013, c. 217, § 5, eff. Nov. 1, 2013.