An Act To Amend the Application Process for the Progressive Treatment Program
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 0897
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: HILL
Amends: 34-B MRSA §3873-A

Legislative Document 
No. 897 
S.P. 285 
In Senate, March 8, 2011 
An Act To Amend the Application Process for the Progressive 
Treatment Program 
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed. 
JOSEPH G. CARLETON, JR. 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator HILL of York.  (BY REQUEST) 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  34-B MRSA §3873-A, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 651, §29, is 
amended to read: 
1.  Application.  The superintendent or chief administrative officer of a psychiatric 
hospital, the commissioner or the director of an ACT team, except as limited by 
subsection 10, A health officer, law enforcement officer or any other person may obtain 
an order from the District Court to admit a patient to a progressive treatment program 
upon the following conditions: 
A.  The patient suffers from a severe and persistent mental illness; 
B.  The patient poses a likelihood of serious harm; 
C.  The patient has the benefit of a suitable individualized treatment plan; 
D.  Community resources are available to support the treatment plan; 
E.  The patient is unlikely to follow the treatment plan voluntarily; 
F.  Court-ordered compliance will help to protect the patient from interruptions in 
treatment, relapses or deterioration of mental health; and 
G.  Compliance will enable the patient to survive more safely in a community setting 
without posing a likelihood of serious harm. 
Sec. 2.  34-B MRSA §3873-A, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 651, §29, is 
amended to read: 
2.  Contents of the application.  The application must be accompanied by a 
certificate of a medical practitioner providing the facts and opinions necessary to support 
the application.   The certificate must indicate that the examiner's opinions are based on 
one or more recent examinations of the patient or upon the examiner's recent personal 
treatment of the patient.  Opinions of the examiner may be based on personal observation 
or on and must include a consideration of history and information from other sources 
considered reliable by the examiner when such sources are available. 
The applicant must also provide a written statement certifying that a copy of the 
application and the accompanying documents have been given personally to the patient 
and that the patient and the patient's guardian or next of kin, if any, have been notified of: 
A.  The patient's right to retain an attorney or to have an attorney appointed; 
B.  The patient's right to select or to have the patient's attorney select an independent 
examiner; and 
C.  How to contact the District Court. 
SUMMARY 
Current law limits who may obtain an order from the District Court to admit a patient 
to a progressive treatment program.  This bill allows a health officer, law enforcement 
officer or any other person to obtain the order.  The bill also requires that when an 
examiner forms an opinion it must be based on history as well as personal observation.