Arizona Laws 36-539. Conduct of hearing; record; transcript
A. The medical director of the evaluation agency shall issue instructions to the physicians or the psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner of the evaluation agency who is treating the proposed patient to take all reasonable precautions to ensure that at the time of the hearing the proposed patient is not so under the influence of or does not so suffer the effects of drugs, medication or other treatment as to be hampered in preparing for or participating in the hearing. If the proposed patient is being treated as an inpatient by the evaluation agency, the court at the time of the hearing shall be presented a record of all drugs, medication or other treatment that the person has received during the seventy-two hours immediately before the hearing.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 36-539
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Court: means the superior court in the county in this state in which the patient resides or was found before screening or emergency admission under this title. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
- Director: means the director of the administration. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Evaluation: means :
(a) A professional multidisciplinary analysis that may include firsthand observations or remote observations by interactive audiovisual media and that is based on data describing the person's identity, biography and medical, psychological and social conditions carried out by a group of persons consisting of at least the following:
(i) Two licensed physicians who are qualified psychiatrists, if possible, or at least experienced in psychiatric matters, who shall examine and report their findings independently. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Evaluation agency: means either of the following:
(a) A health care agency that is licensed by the department and that has been approved pursuant to this title to provide the services required of that agency by this chapter. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Grave disability: means a condition evidenced by behavior in which a person, as a result of a mental disorder, is likely to come to serious physical harm or serious illness because the person is unable to provide for the person's own basic physical needs. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Mental disorder: means a substantial disorder of the person's emotional processes, thought, cognition or memory. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Mental health treatment agency: means any of the following:
(a) The state hospital. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Patient: means any person who is undergoing examination, evaluation or behavioral or mental health treatment under this chapter. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Persistent or acute disability: means a severe mental disorder that meets all the following criteria:
(a) Significantly impairs judgment, reason, behavior or capacity to recognize reality. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Proposed patient: means a person for whom an application for evaluation has been made or a petition for court-ordered evaluation has been filed. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner: means a registered nurse practitioner as defined in section 32-1601 who has completed an adult or family psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner program and who is certified as an adult or family psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner by the state board of nursing. See Arizona Laws 36-501
- Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Testify: Answer questions in court.
- Testify: includes every manner of oral statement under oath or affirmation. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
B. The patient and the patient’s attorney shall be present at all hearings, and the patient’s attorney may subpoena and cross-examine witnesses and present evidence. The patient may choose to not attend the hearing or the patient’s attorney may waive the patient’s presence. The evidence presented by the petitioner or the patient shall include the testimony of two or more witnesses acquainted with the patient at the time of the alleged mental disorder, which may be satisfied by a statement agreed on by the parties, and testimony of the two physicians or other health professionals who participated in the evaluation of the patient pursuant to section 36-533, which may be satisfied by stipulating to the admission of the affidavits as required pursuant to section 36-533, subsection B. The evaluating physicians or other health professionals shall testify as to their personal observations of the patient. They shall also testify as to their opinions concerning whether the patient is, as a result of mental disorder, a danger to self or to others or has a persistent or acute disability or a grave disability and as to whether the patient requires treatment. Such testimony shall state specifically the nature and extent of the danger to self or to others, the persistent or acute disability or the grave disability. If the patient has a grave disability, the evaluating physicians or other health professionals shall testify concerning the need for guardianship or conservatorship, or both, and whether or not the need is for immediate appointment. Other persons who have participated in the evaluation of the patient or, if further treatment was requested by a mental health treatment agency, persons of that agency who are directly involved in the care of the patient shall testify at the request of the court or of the patient’s attorney. Witnesses shall testify as to placement alternatives appropriate and available for the care and treatment of the patient. The clinical record of the patient for the current admission shall be available and may be presented in full or in part as evidence at the request of the court, the county attorney or the patient’s attorney.
C. If the patient, for medical or psychiatric reasons, is unable to be present at the hearing and cannot appear by other reasonably feasible means, the court shall require clear and convincing evidence that the patient is unable to be present at the hearing and on such a finding may proceed with the hearing in the patient’s absence.
D. The requirements of subsection B of this section are in addition to all rules of evidence and the Arizona rules of civil procedure, not inconsistent with subsection B of this section.
E. A verbatim record of all proceedings under this section shall be made by stenographic means by a court reporter if a written request for a court reporter is made by any party to the proceedings at least twenty-four hours in advance of such proceedings. If stenographic means are not requested in the manner provided by this subsection, electronic means shall be directed by the presiding judge. The stenographic notes or electronic tape shall be retained as provided by statute.
F. A patient who has been ordered to undergo treatment may request a certified transcript of the hearing. To obtain a copy, the patient shall pay for a transcript or shall file an affidavit that the patient is without means to pay for a transcript. If the affidavit is found true by the court, the expense of the transcript is a charge on the county in which the proceedings were held, or, if an intergovernmental agreement by the counties has required evaluation in a county other than that of the patient’s residence, such expense may be charged to the county of the patient’s residence or in which the patient was found before evaluation.