Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 36 > Chapter 5 > Article 4 - Court-Ordered Evaluation

• Administration: means the Arizona health care cost containment system administration. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Admitting officer: means a psychiatrist or other physician or psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner with experience in performing psychiatric examinations who has been designated as an admitting officer of the evaluation agency by the person in charge of the evaluation agency. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Adult: means a person who has attained eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Authorized transporter: means a transportation entity that is contracted with a city, town or county to provide services pursuant to this chapter and that is either:

  (a) An ambulance service that holds a valid certificate of necessity. See Arizona Laws 36-501

• 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
• Criminal history: means police reports, lists of prior arrests and convictions, criminal case pleadings and court orders, including a determination that the person has been found incompetent to stand trial pursuant to section 13-4510. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Danger to others: means that the judgment of a person who has a mental disorder is so impaired that the person is unable to understand the person's need for treatment and as a result of the person's mental disorder the person's continued behavior can reasonably be expected, on the basis of competent medical opinion, to result in serious physical harm. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Department: means the department of health services. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Detention: means the taking into custody of a patient or proposed patient. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• 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
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Medical director of an evaluation agency: means a psychiatrist, or other licensed physician experienced in psychiatric matters, who is designated in writing by the governing body of the agency as the person in charge of the medical services of the agency for the purposes of this chapter and may include the chief medical officer of the state hospital. 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
• 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
• Prepetition screening: means the review of each application requesting court-ordered evaluation, including an investigation of facts alleged in the application, an interview with each applicant and an interview, if possible, with the proposed patient. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Prescribed form: means a form established by a court or the rules of the administration in accordance with the laws of this state. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Professional: means a physician who is licensed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 13 or 17, a psychologist who is licensed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 19. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Property: includes both real and personal property. 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
• Prosecuting agency: means the county attorney, attorney general or city attorney who applied or petitioned for an evaluation or treatment pursuant to this chapter. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Psychiatrist: means a licensed physician who has completed three years of graduate training in psychiatry in a program approved by the American medical association or the American osteopathic association. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Psychologist: means a person who is licensed under Title 32, Chapter 19. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Records: means all communications that are recorded in any form or medium and that relate to patient examination, evaluation or behavioral or mental health treatment. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Screening agency: means a health care agency that is licensed by the department and that provides those services required of the agency by this chapter. See Arizona Laws 36-501
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Voluntary evaluation: means the ongoing collection and analysis of a person's medical, psychological, psychiatric and social conditions in order to initially determine if a health disorder exists and if there is a need for behavioral health services and, on an ongoing basis, to ensure that the person's service plan is designed to meet the person's and the person's family's current needs and long-term goals. See Arizona Laws 36-501