Arkansas Legal Resource Navigator

20-47-202. Definitions.

Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities

20-47-202. Definitions.

20-47-202. Definitions. As used in this subchapter: (1) “Administrator” means the chief administrative officer or executive director of any private or public facility or of any community mental health center certified by the Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services of the Department of Human Services; (2) “Behavior history” means a person's statements or actions on specific occasions as established by the person's declarations, observations of others, or records; (3) “Community mental health center” means a program and its affiliates established and administered by the state, or a private, nonprofit corporation certified by the division for the purpose of providing mental health services to the residents of a defined geographic area and which minimally provides twenty-four-hour emergency, inpatient, outpatient, consultation, education, prevention, partial care, follow-up and aftercare, and initial screening and precare services. The division may contract with a community mental health center for the operation and administration of any services which are part of the state mental health system; (4) “Crisis response services” means immediate or emergency treatment. Because mental illnesses are often of an episodic nature, there will be instances that require acute and quick crisis response services; (5) [Repealed.] (6) “Detention” means any confinement of a person against his or her wishes and begins either: (A) When a person is involuntarily brought to a receiving facility or program or to a hospital; (B) When, pursuant to § 20-47-209(a), the person appears for the initial hearing; or (C) When a person on a voluntary status in a receiving facility or program or a hospital requests to leave pursuant to § 20-47-204(3); (7) [Repealed.] (

Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-202

Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.

Issuing source page ↗

Authority boundary: historical statutory source snapshot not current law.

Open the recorded source website ↗

Record provenance

Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:20-47-202
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.20.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 65bca441616b98121da6ea93a6c201cca42bc3c1cee56c46ad2dedeb66fb8db7

Source location: content.xml paragraph 26676

Stored source content

20-47-202. Definitions. As used in this subchapter: (1) “Administrator” means the chief administrative officer or executive director of any private or public facility or of any community mental health center certified by the Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services of the Department of Human Services; (2) “Behavior history” means a person's statements or actions on specific occasions as established by the person's declarations, observations of others, or records; (3) “Community mental health center” means a program and its affiliates established and administered by the state, or a private, nonprofit corporation certified by the division for the purpose of providing mental health services to the residents of a defined geographic area and which minimally provides twenty-four-hour emergency, inpatient, outpatient, consultation, education, prevention, partial care, follow-up and aftercare, and initial screening and precare services. The division may contract with a community mental health center for the operation and administration of any services which are part of the state mental health system; (4) “Crisis response services” means immediate or emergency treatment. Because mental illnesses are often of an episodic nature, there will be instances that require acute and quick crisis response services; (5) [Repealed.] (6) “Detention” means any confinement of a person against his or her wishes and begins either: (A) When a person is involuntarily brought to a receiving facility or program or to a hospital; (B) When, pursuant to § 20-47-209(a), the person appears for the initial hearing; or (C) When a person on a voluntary status in a receiving facility or program or a hospital requests to leave pursuant to § 20-47-204(3); (7) [Repealed.] (8) “Hospital” means the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, or any private hospital with a fully trained psychiatrist on the active or consultant staff; (9) “Initial screening” means initial screening services conducted by a mental health professional provided by a receiving facility or program for individuals residing in the area served by the receiving facility or program who are being considered for referral to inpatient programs of the state mental health system to determine whether or not the individual meets the criteria for voluntary or involuntary admission and to determine whether or not appropriate alternatives to institutionalization are available. These screening services shall be available to community organizations, agencies, or private practitioners who are involved in making referrals to the state mental health system; (10) “Involuntary admission” means: (A) Court-ordered admission to twenty-four-hour inpatient health care; (B) Immediate confinement under § 20-47-210; or (C) Admission to outpatient behavioral healthcare services furnished by a receiving facility or program or a behavioral healthcare clinic certified by the division; (11) “Least restrictive appropriate setting” for treatment means the available treatment setting which provides the person with the highest likelihood of improvement or cure and which is not more restrictive of the person's physical or social liberties than is necessary for the most effective treatment of the person and for adequate protection against any dangers which the person poses to himself or herself or others; (12)(A) “Mental illness” means a substantial impairment of emotional processes, the ability to exercise conscious control of one's actions, or the ability to perceive reality or to reason, when the impairment is manifested by instances of extremely abnormal behavior or extremely faulty perceptions. (B) Mental illness does not include impairment solely caused by: (i) Epilepsy; (ii) Intellectual or other developmental disability; (iii) Continuous or noncontinuous periods of intoxication caused by substances such as alcohol or drugs; or (iv) Dependence upon or addiction to any substance such as alcohol or drugs; (13) “Physician” means a medical doctor licensed to practice in Arkansas; (14) “Psychosurgery” means those operations currently referred to as lobotomy, psychiatric surgery, and behavioral surgery and all other forms of brain surgery if the surgery is performed for the purpose of the following: (A) Modification or control of thoughts, feelings, actions, or behavior rather than the treatment of a known and diagnosed physical disease of the brain; (B) Modification of normal brain function or normal brain tissue in order to control thoughts, feelings, actions, or behavior; or (C) Treatment of abnormal brain function or abnormal brain tissue in order to modify thoughts, feelings, actions, or behavior when the abnormality is not an established cause of those thoughts, feelings, actions, or behavior; (15) “Receiving facility or program” means an inpatient or outpatient treatment facility or program which is designated within each geographic area of the state by the Deputy Director of the Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services of the Department of Human Services to accept the responsibility for care, custody, and treatment of persons involuntarily admitted to the state mental health system; (16)(A) “Resides” means a person's ongoing physical presence in the state together with indications that the person's presence in the state is something other than merely transitory. (B) “Resides” includes a temporary absence from the state or temporary physical presence in a city that adjoins the Arkansas state line or is separated only by a navigable river from an Arkansas city that adjoins the Arkansas state line; (17)(A) “Restraint” means any manual method, physical or mechanical device, material, or equipment that immobilizes a person or reduces the ability of a person to move his or her arms, legs, body, or head freely. (B) “Restraint” does not include devices such as orthopedically prescribed devices, surgical dressings or bandages, protective helmets, or other methods that involve the physical holding of a person for the purpose of protecting the person from falling or to permit the person to participate in activities without the risk of physical harm to himself or herself; (18) “State mental health system” means the Arkansas State Hospital and any other facility or program licensed or certified by the division; (19) “State or local authority” means a state or local government authority or agency or a representative of a state or local government authority or agency acting in an official capacity; (20) “Treatment” means those psychological, educational, social, chemical, medical, somatic, or other techniques designed to bring about rehabilitation of persons with mental illness. Treatment may be provided in inpatient and outpatient settings; and (21) “Treatment plan” means an individualized written document developed by the treatment staff of the hospital or receiving facility or program which includes the following: (A) A substantiated diagnosis in the terminology of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; (B) Short-term and long-term treatment goals; (C) Treatment programs, facilities, and activities to be utilized to achieve the treatment goals; and (D) Methods for periodic review and revision of the treatment plan.

Cross-references

Connections may be documented source relationships, shared citations or nearby passages. Each explains its basis; a connection alone does not establish applicability to your situation.

Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities

20-47-204. Voluntary admissions.

20-47-204. Voluntary admissions. The following shall apply to voluntary admissions of persons with a mental illness, disease, or disorder: (1)(A) Any person who believes himself or herself to have a mental illness, disease, or disorder may apply to the administrator or his or her designee of a hospital or to the administrator or his or her designee of a receiving facility or program to which admission is requested. (B) If the administrator or his or her designee of the hospital or the administrator or his or her designee of a receiving facility or program shall be satisfied after examination of the applicant that he or she is in need of mental health treatment and will be benefitted thereby, he or she may receive and care for the applicant in the hospital or receiving facility or program for such a period of time as he or she shall deem necessary for the recovery and improvement of the person, provided that the person agrees at all times to remain in the hospital or receiving facility or program; (2) If at any time the person who has voluntarily admitted himself or herself to the hospital or receiving facility or program makes a request to leave, and the administrator or his or her designee determines that the person meets the criteria for involuntary admission as defined in § 20-47-207, then the person shall be considered to be held by detention and the involuntary admission procedures set forth herein shall apply; (3)(A) Any person requesting to leave under subdivision (2) of this section, within one (1) hour of his or her request to any hospital or receiving facility or program employee, in an administrative or treatment capacity, shall be provided with a written statement advising him or her of all rights delineated in §§ 20-47-211 and 20-47-212. The person

Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-204

Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-204. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.

Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities

20-47-209. Initial hearing — Failure to appear — Exceptions from appearance requirement.

20-47-209. Initial hearing — Failure to appear — Exceptions from appearance requirement. (a) If the person named in the original petition is not confined at the time that the petition is filed, the court may: (1) Enter an ex parte order directing a law enforcement officer to serve the person with a copy of the petition together with a notice to appear for an initial hearing. The hearing shall be set by the court within three (3) days, excluding weekends and holidays, of the filing of the original petition. If the person is duly served and fails to appear, the court shall issue an order of detention; or (2) Dismiss the petition. (b) The person named in the original petition is not required to appear and may be removed from the presence of the court upon a finding by the court that the person is: (1) By reason of physical infirmity unable to appear; (2) That the person's appearance would be detrimental to his or her mental health, well-being, or treatment; or (3) That his or her conduct before the court is so disruptive that the proceedings cannot reasonably continue with him or her present. (c)(1) The petitioner shall appear before the circuit judge hearing the petition to substantiate the petition. (2) The court shall make a determination based on clear and convincing evidence that there is probable cause to believe that the person has a mental illness, disease, or disorder and that one (1) of the criteria for involuntary admission applies to the person. (3) If such a determination is made, the person shall be admitted for evaluation, and a hearing pursuant to § 20-47-214 shall be held within the period specified in § 20-47-205.

Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-209

Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-209. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.

Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities

20-47-210. Immediate confinement — Initial evaluation and treatment.

20-47-210. Immediate confinement — Initial evaluation and treatment. (a) Whenever it appears that a person is of danger to himself or herself or others, as defined in § 20-47-207, and immediate confinement appears necessary to avoid harm to the person or others: (1) An interested citizen may take the person to a hospital or to a receiving facility or program. If no other safe means of transporting the individual is available, it shall be the responsibility of the law enforcement agency that exercises jurisdiction at the site where the individual is physically located and requiring transportation, or unless otherwise ordered by the judge. A petition, as provided in § 20-47-207, shall be filed in the circuit court of the county in which the person resides or is detained within seventy-two (72) hours, excluding weekends and holidays, and a hearing, as provided in § 20-47-209(a)(1) shall be held; or (2) Any person filing a petition for involuntary admission may append to the petition a request for immediate confinement which shall state with particularity facts personally known to the affiant which establish reasonable cause to believe that the person sought to be involuntarily admitted is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm or that the lives of others are in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm due to the mental state of the person sought to be involuntarily admitted. (b)(1) When a petition for involuntary admission with a request for immediate confinement appended thereto is filed, the petitioner shall then appear before a circuit judge of the county where the person sought to be immediately confined resides or is found. (2) The circuit judge shall then conduct an ex parte hearing for the purpose of determining whether there is reasonab

Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-210

Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-210. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.