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C.30:4-27.9a
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C.30:4-27.3a
An Act concerning involuntary commitment to mental health treatment and 1[amending] supplementing1 P.L.1987, c.116 1(C.30:4-27.1 et seq.)1 .
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1[1. Section 2 of P.L.1987, c.116 (C.30:4-27.2) is amended to read as follows:
2. As used in P.L.1987, c.116 (C.30:4-27.1 et seq.) and P.L.2009, c.112:
a. "Chief executive officer" means the person who is the chief administrative officer of an institution or psychiatric facility.
b. "Clinical certificate" means a form prepared by the division and approved by the Administrative Office of the Courts, that is completed by the psychiatrist or other physician who has examined the person who is subject to commitment within three days of presenting the person for involuntary commitment to treatment, and which states that the person is in need of involuntary commitment to treatment. The form shall also state the specific facts upon which the examining physician has based his conclusion and shall be certified in accordance with the Rules of the Court. A clinical certificate may not be executed by a person who is a relative by blood or marriage to the person who is being screened.
c. "Clinical director" means the person who is designated by the director or chief executive officer to organize and supervise the clinical services provided in a screening service, short-term care or psychiatric facility. The clinical director shall be a psychiatrist; however, those persons currently serving in the capacity will not be affected by this provision. This provision shall not alter any current civil service laws designating the qualifications of such position.
d. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Human Services.
e. "County counsel" means the chief legal officer or advisor of the governing body of a county.
f. "Court" means the Superior Court or a municipal court.
g. "Custody" means the right and responsibility to ensure the provision of care and supervision.
h. "Dangerous to self" means that by reason of mental illness the person has threatened or attempted suicide or serious bodily harm, or has behaved in such a manner as to indicate that the person is unable to satisfy his need for nourishment, essential medical care or shelter, so that it is probable that substantial bodily injury, serious physical harm, or death will result within the reasonably foreseeable future; however, no person shall be deemed to be unable to satisfy his need for nourishment, essential medical care, or shelter if he is able to satisfy such needs with the supervision and assistance of others who are willing and available. This determination shall take into account a person's history, recent behavior, and any recent act, threat, or serious psychiatric deterioration.
i. "Dangerous to others or property" means that by reason of mental illness there is a substantial likelihood that the person will inflict serious bodily harm upon another person or cause serious property damage within the reasonably foreseeable future. This determination shall take into account a person's history, recent behavior, and any recent act, threat, or serious psychiatric deterioration.
j. "Department" means the Department of Human Services.
k. "Director" means the chief administrative officer of a screening service, short-term care facility, or special psychiatric hospital.
l. "Division" means the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services in the Department of Human Services.
m. "In need of involuntary commitment" or "in need of involuntary commitment to treatment" means that an adult with mental illness, whose mental illness causes the person to be dangerous to self or dangerous to others or property and who is unwilling to accept appropriate treatment voluntarily after it has been offered, needs outpatient treatment or inpatient care at a short-term care or psychiatric facility or special psychiatric hospital because other services are not appropriate or available to meet the person's mental health care needs.
n. "Institution" means any State or county facility providing inpatient care, supervision, and treatment for persons with developmental disabilities; except that with respect to the maintenance provisions of Title 30 of the Revised Statutes, institution also means any psychiatric facility for the treatment of persons with mental illness.
o. "Mental health agency or facility" means a legal entity which receives funds from the State, county, or federal government to provide mental health services.
p. "Mental health screener" means a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, registered professional nurse, licensed marriage and family therapist, or other individual trained to do outreach only for the purposes of psychological assessment who is employed by a screening service and possesses the license, academic training or experience, as required by the commissioner pursuant to regulation; except that a psychiatrist and a State licensed clinical psychologist who meet the requirements for mental health screener shall not have to comply with any additional requirements adopted by the commissioner.
q. "Mental hospital" means, for the purposes of the payment and maintenance provisions of Title 30 of the Revised Statutes, a psychiatric facility.
r. "Mental illness" means a current, substantial disturbance of thought, mood, perception, or orientation which significantly impairs judgment, capacity to control behavior, or capacity to recognize reality, but does not include simple alcohol intoxication, transitory reaction to drug ingestion, organic brain syndrome, or developmental disability unless it results in the severity of impairment described herein. The term mental illness is not limited to "psychosis" or "active psychosis," but shall include all conditions that result in the severity of impairment described herein.
s. "Patient" means a person over the age of 18 who has been admitted to, but not discharged from a short-term care or psychiatric facility, or who has been assigned to, but not discharged from an outpatient treatment provider.
t. "Physician" means a person who is licensed to practice medicine in any one of the United States or its territories, or the District of Columbia.
u. "Psychiatric facility" means a State psychiatric hospital listed in R.S.30:1-7, a county psychiatric hospital, or a psychiatric unit of a county hospital.
v. "Psychiatrist" means a physician who has completed the psychiatry training requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association, and is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology or the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry [and Neurology].
w. "Psychiatric unit of a general hospital" means an inpatient unit of a general hospital that restricts its services to the care and treatment of persons with mental illness who are admitted on a voluntary basis.
x. "Psychologist" means a person who is licensed as a psychologist by the New Jers