Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 41 - PUBLIC HEALTH (§§ 41-1-1 — 41-149-NEW-003) › Chapter 21 - INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS OR AN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY (§§ 41-21-1 — 41-21-253) › PERSONS IN NEED OF MENTAL TREATMENT (§§ 41-21-61 — 41-21-109) › Section 41-21-61 - Definitions

As used in Sections
41-21-61
through
41-21-107
, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms defined have the meanings ascribed to them:
(a)
"Appointed examiner" means a person appointed by the court under Section
41-21-67(2)
to conduct a mental and physical examination of a person alleged to be in need of treatment.
(b)
"Chancellor" means a chancellor or a special master in chancery.
(c)
"Clerk" means the clerk of the chancery court.
(d)
"Director" means the chief administrative officer of a treatment facility or other employee designated by him as his deputy.
(e)
"Interested person" means an adult, including, but not limited to, a public official, and the legal guardian, spouse, parent, legal counsel, adult child, next of kin, or other person designated by a proposed patient.
(f)
"Person with mental illness" means any person who has a substantial psychiatric disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory which grossly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or to reason or understand, which (i) is manifested by instances of grossly disturbed behavior or faulty perceptions; and (ii) poses a substantial likelihood of physical harm to himself or others as demonstrated by (A) a recent attempt or threat to physically harm himself or others, or (B) a failure to provide necessary food, clothing, shelter or medical care for himself, as a result of the impairment. "Person with mental illness" includes a person who, based on treatment history and other applicable psychiatric indicia, is in need of treatment in order to prevent further disability or deterioration which would predictably result in dangerousness to himself or others when his current mental illness limits or negates his ability to make an informed decision to seek or comply with recommended treatment. "Person with mental illness" does not include a person having only one or more of the following conditions:
(1)
epilepsy,
(2)
an intellectual disability,
(3)
brief periods of intoxication caused by alcohol or drugs,
(4)
dependence upon or addiction to any alcohol or drugs, or
(5)
senile dementia.
(g)
"Person with an intellectual disability" means any person (i) who has been diagnosed as having substantial limitations in present functioning, manifested before age eighteen (18), characterized by significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with related limitations in two (2) or more of the following applicable adaptive skill areas: communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work, and (ii) whose recent conduct is a result of having an intellectual disability and poses a substantial likelihood of physical harm to himself or others in that there has been (A) a recent attempt or threat to physically harm himself or others, or (B) a failure and inability to provide necessary food, clothing, shelter, safety or medical care for himself.
(h)
"Physician" means any person licensed by the State of Mississippi to practice medicine in any of its branches.
(i)
"Psychologist" means a licensed psychologist who has been certified by the State Board of Psychological Examiners as qualified to perform examinations for the purpose of civil commitment.
(j)
"Treatment facility" means a hospital, community mental health center, or other institution qualified to provide care and treatment for persons with mental illness, persons with an intellectual disability or chemically dependent persons.
(k)
"Substantial likelihood of bodily harm" means that:
(i)
The person has threatened or attempted suicide or to inflict serious bodily harm to himself; or
(ii)
The person has threatened or attempted homicide or other violent behavior; or
(iii)
The person has placed others in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious physical harm to them; or
(iv)
The person is unable to avoid severe impairment or injury from specific risks; and
(v)
There is substantial likelihood that serious harm will occur unless the person is placed under emergency treatment.
Laws, 1975, ch. 492, § 1; Laws, 1976, ch. 401, § 2; Laws, 1984, ch. 477, § 1; Laws, 1985, ch. 454, § 1; Laws, 1994, ch. 533, § 1; Laws, 1994, ch. 599, § 1; Laws, 2010, ch. 476, § 58; Laws, 2010, ch. 548, § 1, eff. 7/1/2010.
Amended by Laws, 2019, ch. 468, SB 2328,§ 3, eff. 7/1/2019.