Oklahoma § 30-31 - Definitions — Court order for inpatient mental health

§ 30-31. Definitions — Court order for inpatient mental health

treatment — Criteria.

A. As used in this act:

1. "General guardianship" means a relationship where a person

has been appointed by a court to serve as the guardian of an

incapacitated person to ensure that the essential requirements for

the health and safety of the person are met, to manage the estate or

financial resources of the person, or both;

2. "Gravely disabled" means a condition in which a person,

because of a mental illness, is unable to provide for his or her

basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter;

3. "Inpatient mental health treatment" means a treatment

service offered or provided for a continuous period of more than

twenty-four (24) hours in residence after admission to a mental

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 30. Guardian and Ward

health or substance abuse treatment facility for the purpose of

observation, evaluation, or treatment; and

4. "Ward" means a person over whom a guardian is appointed and

a person over whose property a guardian or conservator is appointed.

B. A guardian who has general guardianship and who has obtained

an order by a court for inpatient mental health treatment for the

ward may apply for an order requiring either municipal or county

officials to retrieve, only if in an unsheltered environment, and

deliver the gravely disabled ward to an inpatient treatment

facility, pursuant to Section 1-110 of Title 43A of the Oklahoma

Statutes, when one of the following criteria is met:

1. The ward is unable to utilize the means available to provide

for his or her basic personal needs regarding food, clothing, or

shelter. Considerations that shall be made when making this

evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

a.

whether lab examinations reveal signs of malnutrition

or dehydration,

b.

whether there is observed, documented behavior showing

an inability to consume adequate amounts of food or

water due to a mental illness,

c.

whether there is a history of public nudity or

inadvertent exhibitionism which has been observed and

documented and is due to a mental illness,

d.

the existence of physical evidence of exposure to the

environment due to mental illness symptoms which

prevent the ward from wearing adequate clothing,

e.

whether there is observed behavior and symptoms of a

mental illness which prevent the ward from utilizing

or obtaining adequate shelter,

f.

the existence of a repeated and recent history of

failure to maintain adequate shelter in the community

due to behaviors and symptoms of a mental illness, or

g.

evidence of a failure to maintain a shelter in a

manner that is safe to live in, due to symptoms of a

mental illness;

2. The ward is unable to voluntarily request and receive

assistance for his or her basic personal needs; or

3. The ward is unable to survive safely without involuntary

detention and does not have the help of family members, friends, or

others to provide the ward's basic personal needs regarding food,

clothing, or shelter.

C. No person shall be presumed to be incompetent because the

person has been evaluated or treated for a mental illness,

regardless of whether such evaluation or treatment was voluntarily

or involuntarily received.

Added by Laws 2023, c. 183, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2023.

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 30. Guardian and Ward