Outpatient treatment; allows court to order mandatory treatment following involuntary admission. (SB840)

Introduced By

Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-Fairfax)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Mandatory outpatient treatment following inpatient treatment. Allows a court to enter an order for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission, which orders a person who has been involuntarily admitted to mandatory outpatient treatment. The criteria for such an order differ from the criteria used for a mandatory outpatient treatment order entered where the person was not first involuntarily admitted. The criteria for an order for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission are that the person (i) has mental illness; (ii) no longer needs inpatient hospitalization but requires mandatory outpatient treatment to prevent rapid deterioration of his condition that would likely result in his meeting the criteria for inpatient treatment; (iii) is not likely to obtain outpatient treatment unless the court enters the order; and (iv) is likely to comply with the order. Additionally, services must actually be available in the community and providers of services must have actually agreed to deliver the services. The bill also sets forth how orders for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission will be enforced, reviewed, continued, and rescinded. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
12/22/2008Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/09 090273216
12/22/2008Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/13/2009Assigned Courts sub: Civil
01/27/2009Assigned Courts sub: Mental Health
02/04/2009Impact statement from DPB (SB840)
02/11/2009Left in Courts of Justice

Comments

Alison Hymes writes:

02/03/09 House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s)

No indication of what the amendment(s) is or are though. Making voluntary admission more difficult was never supposed to be the goal of MH law reform. Adding mandatory outpatient treatment(forced drugging) when people leave a hospital as a possibility will use up limited community MH resources for folks who do not want services while people who do want services languish on waiting lists. It will also cost a lot of money if used by hospitals frequently, money that just is not there in the system.