Florida Administrative Code › 65 - DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › 65E - Mental Health Program › Chapter 65E-5 - MENTAL HEALTH ACT REGULATION › Section 65E-5.602 - Rights of Residents of State Mental Health Treatment Facilities

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) Each state civil mental health treatment
				facility shall make telephones available for residents. Any restriction on
				telephone usage shall be documented in the clinical record. Such documentation
				shall specify the reason for the restriction, its duration, and the treatment
				goals and interventions aimed at lifting the restriction. At no time, shall
				there be a restriction of telephone access to his or her legal counsel, the
				Florida Abuse Registry, Local or Statewide Advocacy Councils, or the Advocacy
				Center for Persons with Disabilities.
(2) The Department shall protect the
				confidentiality of records within the facility and in transport to other
				facilities and other therapeutic services.
(3) Each state civil mental health treatment
				facility shall post instructions conspicuously in living areas and visiting
				areas where residents and visitors can read the instructions on how to report a
				complaint.
(4) Each state civil
				mental health treatment facility shall establish visiting hours for each of its
				residential units. The visiting hours shall be based on the needs of residents
				and their visitors and shall minimize interruption of the individual's
				treatment program schedules. Each state civil mental health treatment facility
				shall post its visiting hours in places where residents and visitors frequent.
				Visiting hours shall be provided to the resident, family, and representatives
				at the time of admission. Visitors may request exceptions to posted visiting
				hours with the Unit Director or treatment team leader.
(5) Each state civil mental health treatment
				facility shall establish with the local county supervisor of elections, a
				process for allowing eligible residents to register and to vote in public
				elections. The process shall be published and provided to each resident and
				conspicuously posted in living areas where residents can read it. The
				resident's representative shall also be informed of the process. The facility
				shall make available voter registration forms, applications for absentee
				ballots, and absentee ballots.
(6)
				No state civil mental health treatment facility shall initiate any mental
				health treatment, including psychotropic medication, until express and informed
				consent for psychiatric treatment is obtained from a person legally qualified
				to give it, except in the following situations:
(a) Where emergency psychotropic medication
				treatment is ordered by a physician, as defined in Section
				 394.455(21),
				F.S., to preserve the immediate safety of the resident or others in the
				facility;
(b) When a person is
				admitted to a state mental health treatment facility and has a current
				prescription for psychotropic medication(s), is unable to provide express and
				informed consent, is determined by the admitting physician to be in need of the
				medication prescribed prior to admission and an alternative decision maker is
				being pursued through the court, or
(c) When a Court Order is obtained after
				adequate notice and hearing.