2014 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 43A. Mental Health
§43A-1-103. Definitions.

When used in this title, unless otherwise expressly stated, or unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:

1. "Department" means the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services;

2. "Chair" means the chair of the Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services;

3. "Mental illness" means a substantial disorder of thought, mood, perception, psychological orientation or memory that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life;

4. "Board" means the "Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services" as established by the Mental Health Law;

5. "Commissioner" means the individual selected and appointed by the Board to serve as Commissioner of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services;

6. "Indigent person" means a person who has not sufficient assets or resources to support the person and to support members of the family of the person lawfully dependent on the person for support;

7. "Facility" means any hospital, school, building, house or retreat, authorized by law to have the care, treatment or custody of an individual with mental illness, or drug or alcohol dependency, gambling addiction, eating disorders, an opioid substitution treatment program, including, but not limited to, public or private hospitals, community mental health centers, clinics, satellites or facilities; provided that facility shall not mean a child guidance center operated by the State Department of Health;

8. "Consumer" means a person under care or treatment in a facility pursuant to the Mental Health Law, or in an outpatient status;

9. "Care and treatment" means medical care and behavioral health services, as well as food, clothing and maintenance, furnished to a person;

10. Whenever in this law or in any other law, or in any rule or order made or promulgated pursuant to this law or to any other law, or in the printed forms prepared for the admission of consumers or for statistical reports, the words "insane", "insanity", "lunacy", "mentally sick", "mental disease" or "mental disorder" are used, such terms shall have equal significance to the words "mental illness";

11. "Licensed mental health professional" means:

a.a psychiatrist who is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology,

b.a physician licensed pursuant to the Oklahoma Allopathic Medical and Surgical Licensure and Supervision Act or the Oklahoma Osteopathic Medicine Act,

c.a clinical psychologist who is duly licensed to practice by the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists,

d.a professional counselor licensed pursuant to the Licensed Professional Counselors Act,

e.a person licensed as a clinical social worker pursuant to the provisions of the Social Worker's Licensing Act,

f.a licensed marital and family therapist as defined in the Marital and Family Therapist Licensure Act,

g.a licensed behavioral practitioner as defined in the Licensed Behavioral Practitioner Act,

h.an advanced practice nurse as defined in the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act specializing in mental health,

i.a physician's assistant who is licensed in good standing in this state and has received specific training for and is experienced in performing mental health therapeutic, diagnostic, or counseling functions, or

j.a licensed drug and alcohol counselor/mental health ("LADC/MH") as defined in the Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors Act;

12. "Mentally incompetent person" means any person who has been adjudicated mentally or legally incompetent by an appropriate district court;

13.a."Person requiring treatment" means a person who because of his or her mental illness or drug or alcohol dependency:

(1)poses a substantial risk of immediate physical harm to self as manifested by evidence or serious threats of or attempts at suicide or other significant self-inflicted bodily harm,

(2)poses a substantial risk of immediate physical harm to another person or persons as manifested by evidence of violent behavior directed toward another person or persons,

(3)has placed another person or persons in a reasonable fear of violent behavior directed towards such person or persons or serious physical harm to them as manifested by serious and immediate threats,

(4)is in a condition of severe deterioration such that, without immediate intervention, there exists a substantial risk that severe impairment or injury will result to the person, or

(5)poses a substantial risk of immediate serious physical injury to self or death as manifested by evidence that the person is unable to provide for and is not providing for his or her basic physical needs.

b.The mental health or substance abuse history of the person may be used as part of the evidence to determine whether the person is a person requiring treatment. The mental health or substance abuse history of the person shall not be the sole basis for this determination.

c.Unless a person also meets the criteria established in subparagraph a of this paragraph, person requiring treatment shall not mean:

(1)a person whose mental processes have been weakened or impaired by reason of advanced years, dementia, or Alzheimer's disease,

(2)a mentally retarded or developmentally disabled person as defined in Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes,

(3)a person with seizure disorder,

(4)a person with a traumatic brain injury, or

(5)a person who is homeless.

d.A person who meets the criteria established in this section, but who is medically unstable, or the facility holding the person is unable to treat the additional medical conditions of that person should be discharged and transported in accordance with Section 1-110 of this title;

14. "Petitioner" means a person who files a petition alleging that an individual is a person requiring treatment;

15. "Executive director" means the person in charge of a facility as defined in this section;

16. "Private hospital or facility" means any general hospital maintaining a neuro-psychiatric unit or ward, or any private hospital or facility for care and treatment of a person having a mental illness, which is not supported by the state or federal government. The term "private hospital" or "facility" shall not include nursing homes or other facilities maintained primarily for the care of elderly and disabled persons;

17. "Individualized treatment plan" means a proposal developed during the stay of an individual in a facility, under the provisions of this title, which is specifically tailored to the treatment needs of the individual. Each plan shall clearly include the following:

a.a statement of treatment goals or objectives, based upon and related to a clinical evaluation, which can be reasonably achieved within a designated time interval,

b.treatment methods and procedures to be used to obtain these goals, which methods and procedures are related to each of these goals and which include specific prognosis for achieving each of these goals,

c.identification of the types of professional personnel who will carry out the treatment procedures, including appropriate medical or other professional involvement by a physician or other health professional properly qualified to fulfill legal requirements mandated under state and federal law,

d.documentation of involvement by the individual receiving treatment and, if applicable, the accordance of the individual with the treatment plan, and

e.a statement attesting that the executive director of the facility or clinical director has made a reasonable effort to meet the plan's individualized treatment goals in the least restrictive environment possible closest to the home community of the individual;

18. "Telemedicine" means the practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, evaluation, treatment, transfer of medical data, or exchange of medical education information by means of audio, video, or data communications. Telemedicine uses audio and video multimedia telecommunication equipment which permits two-way real-time communication between a health care practitioner and a patient who are not in the same physical location. Telemedicine shall not include consultation provided by telephone or facsimile machine; and

19. “Recovery and recovery support” means nonclinical services that assist individuals and families to recover from alcohol or drug problems. They include social support, linkage to and coordination among allied service providers, including but not limited to transportation to and from treatment or employment, employment services and job training, case management and individual services coordination, life skills education, relapse prevention, housing assistance, child care, and substance abuse education.

Added by Laws 1953, p. 152, § 3, emerg. eff. June 3, 1953. Amended by Laws 1959, p. 185, § 1, emerg. eff. June 27, 1959; Laws 1963, c. 310, § 1, emerg. eff. June 19, 1963; Laws 1965, c. 32, § 1, emerg. eff. March 3, 1965; Laws 1965, c. 381, § 1, emerg. eff. June 29, 1965; Laws 1977, c. 145, § 2, emerg. eff. June 3, 1977; Laws 1978, c. 247, § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1978; Laws 1980, c. 324, § 1, emerg. eff. June 17, 1980; Laws 1986, c. 103, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 1986. Renumbered from § 3 of this title by Laws 1986, c. 103, § 103, eff. Nov. 1, 1986. Amended by Laws 1987, c. 118, § 2, operative July 1, 1987; Laws 1990, c. 51, § 23, emerg. eff. April 9, 1990; Laws 1992, c. 389, § 1, emerg. eff. June 10, 1992; Laws 2001, c. 186, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2001; Laws 2002, c. 488, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2002; Laws 2003, c. 394, § 2; Laws 2005, c. 195, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws 2006, c. 16, § 18, emerg. eff. March 29, 2006; Laws 2006, c. 97, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2006; Laws 2008, c. 401, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2008; Laws 2010, c. 287, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2010; Laws 2011, c. 294, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2011; Laws 2013, c. 37, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2013; Laws 2013, c. 213, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2013.

NOTE: Laws 2005, c. 150, § 1 repealed by Laws 2006, c. 16, § 19, emerg. eff. March 29, 2006.