CO Code § 27-65-102 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 27 - Behavioral Health|Article 65 - Care and Treatment of Persons With Mental Health Disorders|§ 27-65-102. Definitions

 As used in this article 65, unless the context otherwise requires:    “Acute treatment unit” means a facility or a distinct part of a facility for short-term psychiatric care, which may include treatment for substance use disorders, that provides a total, twenty-four-hour, therapeutically planned and professionally staffed environment for persons who do not require inpatient hospitalization but need more intense and individual services than are available on an outpatient basis, such as crisis management and stabilization services. (1.5) [ ] “Behavioral health entity” means a facility or provider organization engaged in providing community-based health services, which may include behavioral health disorder services, alcohol use disorder services, or substance use disorder services, including crisis stabilization, acute or ongoing treatment, or community mental health center services as described in section 27-66-101 (2) and (3), but does not include:   Residential child care facilities as defined in section 26-6-102 (33); or    Services provided by a licensed or certified mental health-care provider under the provider's individual professional practice act on the provider's own premises.       “Certified peace officer” means any certified peace officer as described in section 16-2.5-102, C.R.S.    “Court” means any district court of the state of Colorado and the probate court in the city and county of Denver.    “Court-ordered evaluation” means an evaluation ordered by a court pursuant to section 27-65-106. (4.5) “Danger to self or others” means:   With respect to an individual, that the individual poses a substantial risk of physical harm to himself or herself as manifested by evidence of recent threats of or attempts at suicide or serious bodily harm to himself or herself; or    With respect to other persons, that the individual poses a substantial risk of physical harm to another person or persons, as manifested by evidence of recent homicidal or other violent behavior by the person in question, or by evidence that others are placed in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious physical harm to them, as evidenced by a recent overt act, attempt, or threat to do serious physical harm by the person in question.       “Department” means the department of human services. (5.5) “Emergency medical services facility” means a facility licensed pursuant to part 1 of article 3 of title 25 or certified pursuant to section 25-1.5-103 , or any other licensed and certified facility that provides emergency medical services. An emergency medical services facility is not required to be, but may elect to become, a facility designated or approved by the executive director for a seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation pursuant to section 27-65-105 .    “Executive director” means the executive director of the department of human services.    [ ] “Facility” means a public hospital or a licensed private hospital, clinic, community mental health center or clinic, acute treatment unit, institution, or residential child care facility that provides treatment for persons with mental health disorders.    “Family member” means a spouse, parent, adult child, or adult sibling of a person with a mental health disorder.    “Gravely disabled” means a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is incapable of making informed decisions about or providing for his or her essential needs without significant supervision and assistance from other people. As a result of being incapable of making these informed decisions, a person who is gravely disabled is at risk of substantial bodily harm, dangerous worsening of any concomitant serious physical illness, significant psychiatric deterioration, or mismanagement of his or her essential needs that could result in substantial bodily harm. A person of any age may be “gravely disabled”, but such term does not include a person whose decision-making capabilities are limited solely by his or her developmental disability.    “Hospitalization” means twenty-four-hour out-of-home placement for treatment in a facility for a person with a mental health disorder.    “Independent professional person” means a professional person, as defined in subsection (17) of this section, who evaluates a minor's condition as an independent decision-maker and whose recommendations are based on the standard of what is in the best interest of the minor. The professional person may be associated with the admitting mental health facility if he or she is free to independently evaluate the minor's condition and need for treatment and has the authority to refuse admission to any minor who does not satisfy the statutory standards specified in section 27-65-103 (3). (11.3) “Intervening professional” means a person described in section 27-65-105 (1)(a)(II) who may effect a seventy-two-hour hold under the provisions outlined in section 27-65-105 . (11.5) “Mental health disorder” includes one or more substantial disorders of the cognitive, volitional, or emotional processes that grossly impairs judgment or capacity to recognize reality or to control behavior. An intellectual or developmental disability is insufficient to either justify or exclude a finding of a mental health disorder pursuant to the provisions of this article 65.    “Minor” means a person under eighteen years of age; except that the term does not include a person who is fifteen years of age or older who is living separately and apart from his or her parent or legal guardian and is managing his or her financial affairs, regardless of his or her source of income, or who is married and living separately and apart from his or her parent or legal guardian.    “Patient representative” means a person designated by a mental health facility to process patient complaints or grievances or to represent patients who are minors pursuant to section 27-65-103 (5).    Repealed.    “Petitioner” means any person who files any petition in any proceeding in the interest of any person who allegedly has a mental health disorder or is allegedly gravely disabled.    “Physician” means a person licensed to practice medicine in this state.    “Professional person” means a person licensed to practice medicine in this state, a psychologist certified to practice in this state, or a person licensed and in good standing to practice medicine in another state or a psychologist certified to practice and in good standing in another state who is providing medical or clinical services at a treatment facility in this state that is operated by the armed forces of the United States, the United States public health service, or the United States department of veterans affairs.    “Residential child care facility” means a facility licensed by the state department of human services pursuant to article 6 of title 26, C.R.S., to provide group care and treatment for children as such facility is defined in section 26-6-102 (33), C.R.S. A residential child care facility may be eligible for designation by the executive director of the department of human services pursuant to this article.    “Respondent” means either a person alleged in a petition filed pursuant to this article 65 to have a mental health disorder or be gravely disabled or a person certified pursuant to the provisions of this article 65.    “Screening” means a review of all petitions, to consist of an interview with the petitioner and, whenever possible, the respondent, an assessment of the problem, an explanation of the petition to the respondent, and a determination of whether the respondent needs and, if so, will accept, on a voluntary basis, comprehensive evaluation, treatment, referral, and other appropriate services, either on an inpatient or an outpatient basis.    Editor's note: Subsection (1.5) is effective July 1, 2022. Editor's note: This version of subsection (7) is effective until July 1, 2022.  (7) (7) [ ] “Facility” means a public hospital or a licensed private hospital, clinic, behavioral health entity, community mental health center or clinic, acute treatment unit, institution, or residential child care facility that provides treatment for persons with mental health disorders.  Editor's note: This version of subsection (7) is effective July 1, 2022.  History. Source: L. 2010: Entire article added with relocations,(SB 10-175), ch. 188, p. 676, § 2, effective April 29. L. 2013: (17) amended,(HB 13-1065), ch. 42, p. 115, § 1, effective March 15; (9) amended,(HB 13-1296), ch. 232, p. 1112, § 2, effective July 1, 2014; (4.5) added,(HB 13-1296), ch. 232, p. 1112, § 2, effective October 22. L. 2016: (18) amended,(SB 16-189), ch. 210, p. 783, § 79, effective June 6. L. 2017: IP, (1), (7), (8), (10), (15), and (19) amended, (11.3) and (11.5) added, and (14) repealed,(SB 17-242), ch. 263, p. 1339, § 233, effective May 25; IP amended and (5.5) and (11.3) added,(SB 17-207), ch. 205, p. 765, § 6, effective May 1, 2018. L. 2019: (1.5) added and (7) amended,(HB 19-1237), ch. 413, p. 3641, § 13, effective July 1, 2022.    Editor's note:    This section is similar to former § 27-10-102 as it existed prior to 2010.    SB 17-242, adding subsection (11.3) was superseded by SB 17-207, adding subsection (11.3), effective May 1, 2018.     Cross references:   For the legislative declaration in SB 17-242, see section 1 of chapter 263, Session Laws of Colorado 2017. For the legislative declaration in SB 17-207, see section 1 of chapter 205, Session Laws of Colorado 2017.   ANNOTATION   Law reviews. For article on commitment of mental patients, see 13 Rocky Mt. L. Rev. 99 (1941). For article, “Liability of Counties for Support of Inmates in State Institutions”, see 29 Dicta 27 (1952). For article, “Commitment Procedures in Colorado”, see 29 Dicta 273 (1952). For article, “Legal Capacity of Adjudged Incompetents”, see 29 Dicta 292 (1952). For article, “Civil Commitment of the Mentally Ill in the Denver Probate Court”, see 46 Den. L.J. 496 (1969). For article, “Due Process in Involuntary Civil Commitment and Incompetency Adjudication Proceedings: Where Does Colorado Stand?”, see 46 Den. L.J. 516 (1969). For article, “The Supreme Court Sidesteps the Right to Treatment Question; O'Conner v. Donaldson”, see 47 U. Colo. L. Rev. 299 (1976). For article, “Patients' Rights vs. Patients' Needs: The Right of the Mentally Ill to Refuse Treatment in Colorado”, see 58 Den. L.J. 567 (1981). For article, “The Homeless and the Law”, see 14 Colo. Law. 405 (1985). For article, “Group Home Regulations Under State and Federal Law”, see 35 Colo. Law. 37 (Feb. 2006). For article, “How to Reconcile Advance Care Directives With Attempted Suicide”, see 42 Colo. Law. 97 (July 2013).   Annotator's note. Since § 27-65-102 is similar to § 27-10-102 as it existed prior to the 2010 amendments to this article, relevant cases construing that provision have been included in the annotations to this section.   Definitions in former subsections (5) and (7) are sufficiently clear and definite. The definitions of mental illness and of the condition of being gravely disabled in former subsections (5) and (7) are sufficiently clear and definite to apprise both lay and professional persons of the type of conduct necessary for certification for short-term treatment. People v. Taylor, 618 P.2d 1127 (Colo. 1980).   Definition of “gravely disabled” in former subsection (5) refers to an existing rather than a prospective inability to provide for one's “basic personal needs”. The determination at a certification hearing as to whether a person is “gravely disabled” must focus on the individual's existing condition, and not on the possibility of future relapse. People in Interest of Bucholz, 778 P.2d 300 (Colo. App. 1989).   Phrase “basic personal needs” means those fundamental necessities of human existence, such as food, shelter, clothing, and medical care, which an individual must obtain and maintain in order to live safely. People v. Taylor, 618 P.2d 1127 (Colo. 1980).   Statutory definition of mental illness, on its own terms, cannot be read to intend that every idiosyncratic or eccentric person requires involuntary medical intervention. People v. Taylor, 618 P.2d 1127 (Colo. 1980).   It is necessary prerequisite to ordering short-term involuntary psychiatric treatment that the professional treatment and evaluation staff find, after analysis, that the person for whom certification is sought is mentally ill and, as a result of mental illness, is a danger to others or to himself or is gravely disabled. People v. Taylor, 618 P.2d 1127 (Colo. 1980).   For previous definition of “insane person”, see Arridy v. People, 103 Colo. 29 , 82 P.2d 757 (1938); Browne v. Smith, 119 Colo. 469 , 205 P.2d 239 (1949).   Applied in People in Interest of Paiz, 43 Colo. App. 352, 603 P.2d 976 (1979).