§ 37.2-100. Definitions
As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Abuse" means any act or failure to act by an employee or other person responsible for the care of an individual in a facility or program operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, that was performed or was failed to be performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, and that caused or might have caused physical or psychological harm, injury, or death to a person receiving care or treatment for mental illness, mental retardation, or substance abuse. Examples of abuse include acts such as:
1. Rape, sexual assault, or other criminal sexual behavior;
2. Assault or battery;
3. Use of language that demeans, threatens, intimidates, or humiliates the person;
4. Misuse or misappropriation of the person's assets, goods, or property;
5. Use of excessive force when placing a person in physical or mechanical restraint;
6. Use of physical or mechanical restraints on a person that is not in compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, and policies, professionally accepted standards of practice, or the person's individualized services plan; and
7. Use of more restrictive or intensive services or denial of services to punish the person or that is not consistent with his individualized services plan.
"Administrative policy community services board" or "administrative policy board" means the public body organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of each city and county that established it to set policy for and administer the provision of mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services. The "administrative policy community services board" or "administrative policy board" denotes the board, the members of which are appointed pursuant to § 37.2-501 with the powers and duties enumerated in subsection A of § 37.2-504 and § 37.2-505. Mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services are provided through local government staff or through contracts with other organizations and providers.
"Behavioral health authority" or "authority" means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of the city or county that established it for the provision of mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services. "Behavioral health authority" or "authority" also includes the organization that provides such services through its own staff or through contracts with other organizations and providers.
"Board" means the State Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services Board.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.
"Community services board" means the public body established pursuant to § 37.2-501 that provides mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services within each city and county that established it; the term "community services board" shall include administrative policy community services boards, operating community services boards, and local government departments with policy-advisory community services boards.
"Consumer" means a current direct recipient of public or private mental health, mental retardation, or substance abuse treatment or habilitation services.
"Department" means the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.
"Facility" means a state or licensed hospital, training center, psychiatric hospital, or other type of residential or outpatient mental health or mental retardation facility. When modified by the word "state," "facility" means a state hospital or training center operated by the Department, including the buildings and land associated with it.
"Family member" means an immediate family member of a consumer or the principal caregiver of a consumer. A principal caregiver is a person who acts in the place of an immediate family member, including other relatives and foster care providers, but does not have a proprietary interest in the care of the consumer.
"Hospital", when not modified by the words "state" or "licensed," means a state hospital or licensed hospital that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness.
"Licensed hospital" means a hospital or institution, including a psychiatric unit of a general hospital, that is licensed pursuant to the provisions of this title.
"Mental illness" means a disorder of thought, mood, emotion, perception, or orientation that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to address basic life necessities and requires care and treatment for the health, safety, or recovery of the individual or for the safety of others.
"Mental retardation" means a disability, originating before the age of 18 years, characterized concurrently by (i) significantly subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning, administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean and (ii) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills.
"Neglect" means failure by an individual or a program or facility operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, responsible for providing services to do so, including nourishment, treatment, care, goods, or services necessary to the health, safety, or welfare of a person receiving care or treatment for mental illness, mental retardation, or substance abuse.
"Operating community services board" or "operating board" means the public body organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of each city and county that established it for the direct provision of mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services. The "operating community services board" or "operating board" denotes the board, the members of which are appointed pursuant to § 37.2-501 with the powers and duties enumerated in subsection A of § 37.2-504 and § 37.2-505. "Operating community services board" or "operating board" also includes the organization that provides such services, through its own staff or through contracts with other organizations and providers.
"Performance contract" means the annual agreement negotiated and entered into by a community services board or behavioral health authority with the Department through which it provides state and federal funds appropriated for mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services to that community services board or behavioral health authority.
"Policy-advisory community services board" or "policy-advisory board" means the public body organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of each city or county that established it to provide advice on policy matters to the local government department that provides mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services pursuant to subsection A of § 37.2-504 and § 37.2-505. The "policy-advisory community services board" or "policy-advisory board" denotes the board, the members of which are appointed pursuant to § 37.2-501 with the powers and duties enumerated in subsection B of § 37.2-504.
"Service area" means the city or county or combination of cities and counties or counties or cities that is served by a community services board or behavioral health authority or the cities and counties that are served by a state facility.
"Special justice" means a person appointed by a chief judge of a judicial circuit for the purpose of performing the duties of a judge pursuant to § 37.2-803.
"State hospital" means a hospital, psychiatric institute, or other institution operated by the Department that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness.
"Substance abuse" means the use of drugs, enumerated in the Virginia Drug Control Act (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.), without a compelling medical reason or alcohol that (i) results in psychological or physiological dependence or danger to self or others as a function of continued and compulsive use or (ii) results in mental, emotional, or physical impairment that causes socially dysfunctional or socially disordering behavior and (iii), because of such substance abuse, requires care and treatment for the health of the individual. This care and treatment may include counseling, rehabilitation, or medical or psychiatric care.
"Training center" means a facility operated by the Department for the treatment, training, or habilitation of persons with mental retardation.
(Code 1950, §§ 37-1.1, 37-34.2:1, 37-254.1; 1950, pp. 899, 935; 1954, c. 668; 1958, c. 556; 1960, c. 133; 1964, cc. 483, 640; 1968, c. 477, § 37.1-1; 1972, cc. 635, 639; 1973, c. 465; 1974, c. 301; 1976, cc. 671, 767, § 37.1-203; 1979, c. 54; 1980, c. 582; 1982, c. 50; 1983, c. 538; 1984, c. 209; 1987, c. 413; 1994, c. 939; 1995, c. 693, § 15.1-1677; 1996, c. 861; 1997, c. 587, § 37.1-243; 1998, cc. 680, 724, § 37.1-194.1; 1999, c. 969; 2005, c. 716.)
Sections: 37.2-100Last modified: April 16, 2009