CO Code § 27-65-116 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 27 - Behavioral Health|Article 65 - Care and Treatment of Persons With Mental Health Disorders|§ 27-65-116. Right to Treatment

     shall create any right with respect to any person other than the person receiving evaluation, care, or treatment. The professional person and the agency or facility providing evaluation, care, or treatment shall keep records detailing all care and treatment received by such person, and such records shall be made available, upon that person's written authorization, to his or her attorney or his or her personal physician. Such records shall be permanent records and retained in accordance with the provisions of section 27-65-121 (4).    Any person receiving evaluation or treatment under any of the provisions of this article is entitled to petition the court pursuant to the provisions of section 13-45-102, C.R.S., subject to available appropriations, for release to a less restrictive setting within or without a treating facility or release from a treating facility when adequate medical and psychiatric care and treatment is not administered.       The department shall adopt regulations to assure that each agency or facility providing evaluation, care, or treatment shall require the following:   Consent for specific therapies and major medical treatment in the nature of surgery. The nature of the consent, by whom it is given, and under what conditions, shall be determined by rules of the department.    The order of a physician for any treatment or specific therapy based on appropriate medical examinations;    Notation in the patient's treatment record of periodic examinations, evaluations, orders for treatment, and specific therapies signed by personnel involved;    Conduct according to the guidelines contained in the regulations of the federal government and the department with regard to clinical investigations, research, experimentation, and testing of any kind; and    Documentation of the findings, conclusions, and decisions in any administrative review of a decision to release or withhold the information requested by a family member pursuant to section 27-65-121 (1)(g) or (1)(h) and documentation of any information given to a family member.        History. Source: L. 2010: Entire article added with relocations,(SB 10-175), ch. 188, p. 692, § 2, effective April 29.    Editor's note:   This section is similar to former § 27-10-116 as it existed prior to 2010.   ANNOTATION   Law reviews. 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, “Legal But Not Fair: Legal Implications of a Mental Illness Medical Model”, see 11 Colo. Law. 1234 (1982). For article, “Status Report: The ”Confidentiality Law“”, see 19 Colo. Law. 441 (1990).   Annotator's note. Since § 27-65-116 is similar to § 27-10-116 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.   Availability of records. Section 25-1-801 can be read consistently with subsection (1)(a) as a specific exception to a general policy of broad disclosure. Brown v. Jensen, 572 F. Supp. 193 (D. Colo. 1983 ).   Whether respondent is entitled to treatment in least restrictive possible environment is a matter for court, not jury, to decide under habeas corpus proceeding. People in Interest of Bailey, 745 P.2d 280 (Colo. App. 1987); People in Interest of Lees, 745 P.2d 281 (Colo. App. 1987).   Voluntary patients as well as involuntary patients are entitled to the rights granted by this section. Goebel v. State Dept. of Insts., 764 P.2d 785 (Colo. 1988); Goebel v. Colo. Dept. of Institutions, 830 P.2d 1036 (Colo. 1992).   This section applies to those who voluntarily receive mental health services and could not be voluntarily committed. Goebel v. Colo. Dept. of Institutions, 830 P.2d 1036 (Colo. 1992).   Person need not be so mentally ill as to be gravely disabled or a danger to himself or others for purposes of this section. Goebel v. Colo. Dept. of Institutions, 830 P.2d 1036 (Colo. 1992).   Person need not have been previously hospitalized to be entitled to mental health services. A person who has received either evaluation or treatment services under the Act is entitled to mental health services specified in this section. Goebel v. Colo. Dept. of Institutions, 830 P.2d 1036 (Colo. 1992).   Under the language of this section, chronically mentally ill persons who have received treatment, but who are not gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others, have a right to treatment if they received evaluation or treatment under any provisions of this article. Goebel v. Colo. Dept. of Institutions, 830 P.2d 1036 (Colo. 1992).   A person need not have had prior hospitalization before such person is entitled to treatment under this section. Such person need only have received either evaluation or treatment services under this act to be eligible for treatment under this section. Goebel v. Colo. Dept. of Institutions, 830 P.2d 1036 (Colo. 1992).   Applied in Romero v. Schauer, 386 F. Supp. 851 (D. Colo. 1974 ); Goedecke v. State Dept. of Insts., 198 Colo. 407 , 603 P.2d 123 (1979).