New Mexico § 43-1-3 - Definitions

§ 43-1-3. Definitions

As used in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code: A. “ aversive stimuli ” means anything that, because it is believed to be unreasonably unpleasant, uncomfortable

or distasteful to the client, is administered or done to the client for the purpose

of reducing the frequency of a behavior, but does not include verbal therapies, physical

restrictions to prevent imminent harm to self or others or psychotropic medications

that are not used for purposes of punishment; B. “ client ” means any patient who is requesting or receiving mental health services or any person

requesting or receiving developmental disabilities services or who is present in a

mental health or developmental disabilities facility for the purpose of receiving

such services or who has been placed in a mental health or developmental disabilities

facility by the person's parent or guardian or by any court order; C. “ code ” means the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code; D. “ consistent with the least drastic means principle ” means that the habilitation or treatment and the conditions of habilitation or treatment

for the client, separately and in combination: (1) are no more harsh, hazardous or intrusive than necessary to achieve acceptable

treatment objectives for the client; (2) involve no restrictions on physical movement and no requirement for residential

care except as reasonably necessary for the administration of treatment or for the

protection of the client or others from physical injury; and (3) are conducted at the suitable available facility close to the client's place of

residence; E. “ convulsive treatment ” means any form of mental health treatment that depends upon creation of a convulsion

by any means, including electroconvulsive treatment and insulin coma treatment; F. “ court ” means a district court of New Mexico; G. “ crisis triage center ” means a health facility that: (1) is licensed by the department of health; and (2) provides stabilization of behavioral health crises and may include residential

and nonresidential stabilization; H. “ department ” or “ division ” means the behavioral health services division of the human services department [health

care authority department]; I. “ developmental disability or intellectual disability ” means a severe chronic disability attributable to significantly subaverage general

intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior,

cerebral palsy, autism or neurological dysfunction that requires similar treatment

or habilitation; J. “ evaluation facility ” means a community mental health or developmental disability program, a crisis triage

center or a medical facility that has psychiatric or developmental or intellectual

disability services available, including the New Mexico behavioral health institute

at Las Vegas, the Los Lunas medical center, or, if none of the foregoing is reasonably

available or appropriate, the office of a physician or a certified psychologist, and

that is capable of performing a mental status examination adequate to determine the

need for involuntary treatment; K. “ experimental treatment ” means any mental health or developmental disabilities treatment that presents significant

risk of physical harm, but does not include accepted treatment used in competent practice

of medicine and psychology and supported by scientifically acceptable studies; L. “ grave passive neglect ” means failure to provide for basic personal or medical needs or for one's own safety

to such an extent that it is more likely than not that serious bodily harm will result

in the near future; M. “ habilitation ” means the process by which professional persons and their staff assist a client

with a developmental or an intellectual disability in acquiring and maintaining those

skills and behaviors that enable the person to cope more effectively with the demands

of the person's self and environment and to raise the level of the person's physical,

mental and social efficiency. “Habilitation” includes but is not limited to programs of formal, structured education

and treatment; N. “ likelihood of serious harm to oneself ” means that it is more likely than not that in the near future the person will attempt

to commit suicide or will cause serious bodily harm to the person's self by violent

or other self- destructive means, including grave passive neglect; O. “ likelihood of serious harm to others ” means that it is more likely than not that in the near future a person will inflict

serious, unjustified bodily harm on another person or commit a criminal sexual offense,

as evidenced by behavior causing, attempting or threatening such harm, which behavior

gives rise to a reasonable fear of such harm from the person; P. “ mental disorder ” means substantial disorder of a person's emotional processes, thought or cognition

that grossly impairs judgment, behavior or capacity to recognize reality, but does

not mean developmental or intellectual disability; Q. “ mental health or developmental or intellectual disabilities professional ” means a physician or other professional who by training or experience is qualified

to work with persons with a mental disorder or a developmental or intellectual disability; R. “ physician ” or “ certified psychologist ”, when used for the purpose of hospital admittance or discharge, means a physician

or certified psychologist who has been granted admitting privileges at a hospital

licensed by the department of health, if such privileges are required; S. “ protected health information ” means individually identifiable health information transmitted by or maintained

in an electronic form or any other form or media that relates to the: (1) past, present or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual; (2) provision of health care to an individual; or (3) payment for the provision of health care to an individual; T. “ psychosurgery ”: (1) means those operations currently referred to as lobotomy, psychiatric surgery

and behavioral surgery and all other forms of brain surgery if the surgery is performed

for the purpose of the following: (a) modification or control of thoughts, feelings, actions or behavior rather than

the treatment of a known and diagnosed physical disease of the brain; (b) treatment of abnormal brain function or normal brain tissue in order to control

thoughts, feelings, actions or behavior; or (c) treatment of abnormal brain function or abnormal brain tissue in order to modify

thoughts, feelings, actions or behavior when the abnormality is not an established

cause for those thoughts, feelings, actions or behavior; and (2) does not include prefrontal sonic treatment in which there is no destruction of

brain tissue; U. “ qualified mental health professional licensed for independent practice ” means an independent social worker, a licensed professional clinical mental health

counselor, a marriage and family therapist, a certified nurse practitioner, a clinical

nurse specialist with a specialty in mental health or a licensed art therapist, all

of whom by training and experience are qualified to work with persons with a mental

disorder; V. “ residential treatment or habilitation program ” means diagnosis, evaluation, care, treatment or habilitation rendered inside or

on the premises of a mental health or developmental disabilities facility, hospital,

clinic, institution or supervisory residence or nursing home when the client resides

on the premises; and W. “ treatment ” means any effort to accomplish a significant change in the mental or emotional condition

or behavior of the client.