PART I. 
GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS



 



§334-1  Definitions.  As used in this
chapter unless otherwise indicated by the context:



"Administrator" means the person in
charge of a public or private hospital.



"Admission procedures" mean the
various methods for admission of mentally ill persons or of persons habituated
to the excessive use of drugs or alcohol to public and private psychiatric
facilities.



"Authorized absence" means absence of
a patient from a psychiatric facility for any period of time with permission.



"Community mental health center"
means one or more facilities which alone or in conjunction with other
facilities, public or private, are part of a coordinated program providing a
variety of mental health services principally for persons residing in a
community or communities in or near which the center is located.



"Conservator" shall have the meaning
provided in section 560:5-102.



"Court" means any duly constituted
court and includes proceedings, hearings of per diem judges as authorized by
law.



"Dangerous to others" means likely to
do substantial physical or emotional injury on another, as evidenced by a
recent act, attempt or threat.



"Dangerous to property" means
inflicting, attempting or threatening imminently to inflict damage to any
property in a manner which constitutes a crime, as evidenced by a recent act,
attempt or threat.



"Dangerous to self" means the person
recently has threatened or attempted suicide or serious bodily harm; or the
person recently has behaved in such a manner as to indicate that the person is
unable, without supervision and the assistance of others, to satisfy the need
for nourishment, essential medical care, shelter or self-protection, so that it
is probable that death, substantial bodily injury, or serious physical
debilitation or disease will result unless adequate treatment is afforded.



"Department" means the department of
health.



"Director" means the director of
health.



"Discharge" means the formal
termination on the records of a psychiatric facility of a patient's period of
treatment at the facility.



"Gravely disabled" means a condition
in which a person, as a result of a mental disorder, (1) is unable to provide
for that individual's basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter; (2)
is unable to make or communicate rational or responsible decisions concerning
the individual's personal welfare; and (3) lacks the capacity to understand
that this is so.



"Guardian" shall have the meaning
provided in section 560:5-102.



"Health care operations" means the
services and activities conducted by an institution, facility, or agency
licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to provide
medical or health services in the ordinary course of business, including case
management and care coordination, quality assessment and improvement
activities, medical reviews, and administrative activities.



"Health care provider" means an
individual or entity licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted
by law to provide medical or health services in the ordinary course of business
or practice of a profession.



"Incapacitated person" shall have the
meaning provided in section 560:5-102.



"Interested person" means an
interested, responsible adult, including but not limited to a public official,
the legal guardian, spouse, parent, legal counsel, adult child, or next of kin
of a person allegedly mentally ill, mentally deficient or suffering from
substance abuse or as otherwise provided in Article I of chapter 560.



"Intoxicated person" means a person
who is deprived of reasonable self-control because of intake of alcohol or
because of any substance which includes in its composition volatile organic
solvents.



"Judge" means any judge of the family
court or per diem judge appointed by the chief justice as provided in section
604-2.



"Licensed physician" means a
physician or surgeon licensed by the State to practice medicine, including a
physician and surgeon granted a limited and temporary license under section
453-3(1), (2), and (5) or a resident physician and surgeon granted a limited
and temporary license under paragraph (4) thereof, or a medical officer of the
United States while in this State in the performance of the medical officer's
official duties.



"Mental health" means a state of
social, psychological, and physical well-being, with capacity to function
effectively in a variety of social roles.



"Mentally ill person" means a person
having psychiatric disorder or other disease which substantially impairs the
person's mental health and necessitates treatment or supervision.



"Obviously ill" means a condition in
which a person's current behavior and previous history of mental illness, if
known, indicate a disabling mental illness, and the person is incapable of
understanding that there are serious and highly probable risks to health and
safety involved in refusing treatment, the advantages of accepting treatment,
or of understanding the advantages of accepting treatment and the alternatives
to the particular treatment offered, after the advantages, risks, and
alternatives have been explained to the person.



"Patient" means a person under
observation, care, or treatment at a psychiatric facility.



"Person suffering from substance
abuse" means a person who uses narcotic, stimulant, depressant, or
hallucinogenic drugs or alcohol to an extent which interferes with the person's
personal, social, family, or economic life.



"Protected person" shall have the
meaning provided in section 560:5-102.



"Psychiatric facility" means a public
or private hospital or part thereof which provides inpatient or outpatient
care, custody, diagnosis, treatment or rehabilitation services for mentally ill
persons or for persons habituated to the excessive use of drugs or alcohol or
for intoxicated persons.



"Special treatment facility" means a
public or private facility which provides a therapeutic residential program for
care, diagnosis, treatment or rehabilitation services for emotionally
distressed persons, mentally ill persons or persons suffering from substance abuse.



"Therapeutic living program" means a
supervised living arrangement that provides mental health or substance abuse
services for individuals or families who do not need the structure of a special
treatment facility and are transitioning from a more restrictive treatment
setting to independent living.  The program aids residents in meeting basic
needs and provides supportive services through a required service plan.



"Treatment" means the broad range of
emergency, out-patient, intermediate, domiciliary, and inpatient services and
care, including diagnostic evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological, and
social service care, vocational rehabilitation, career counseling, and other
special services which may be extended to handicapped persons.



"Treatment summary" means a record of
information including present history and physical examination, mental status
examination, emergency department record, intake evaluation, eligibility
determination, current medication list and prescription history, treatment
plan, consultant reports, diagnosis and problem lists, recent laboratory and
diagnostic testing, clinical or discharge summaries, and discharge
instructions, or any combination of such information.  "Unauthorized
absence" means absence of a patient from a psychiatric facility for any
period of time without permission. [L 1967, c 259, pt of §1; HRS §334-1; am L
1968, c 6, §2; am L 1969, c 153, §1; am L 1973, c 93, pt of §2; am L 1976, c
130, §1(1), (2); am L 1977, c 76, §1; am L 1979, c 228, §2; am L 1984, c 94, §1;
am L 1985, c 75, §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1986, c 335, §1 and c 339, §43; am L
1997, c 220, §1; am L 2004, c 161, §7; am L 2008, c 98, §1]



 



Law Journals and Reviews



 



  For description of procedure under chapter, see Thou Shalt
Not Commit, Samuel P. King, 5 HBJ 46.



 



Case Notes



 



  In light of the definition of "dangerous to self"
under this section, person's refusal to take medications and person's racist
remarks to strangers constituted insufficient evidence to support family
court's finding that person was imminently and substantially dangerous to
person's self.  102 H. 528 (App.), 78 P.3d 341.