What are the standards for court ordered evaluation and treatment?
The standards are:
- Danger to Self (DTS) – Imminent risk of serious harm to oneself; does not have to be intentional.
- Danger to Others (DTO) – Imminent risk of serious harm to other people; does not have to be intentional.
- GD (Grave Disability) – Inability to care for basic daily needs of food, clothing, shelter, medical care. Chronic even with treatment.
- PAD (Persistent or Acute Disability) – Significantly suffering due to untreated mental health disorder; unable to understand advantages vs. disadvantages of various treatment options; likely to benefit from treatment.
- The person must be unable or unwilling to accept treatment voluntarily; the assessment of voluntariness is not solely determined by whether the patient says they are willing to cooperate with voluntary treatment; the physician can consider demonstrated history of cooperation with treatment recommendations.