Mental health: involuntary commitment.

Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders for the protection of the persons so committed. Under the act, when a person, as a result of mental health disorder, is a danger to others, or to themselves, or gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody by a peace officer, member of the attending staff of an evaluation facility, designated members of a mobile crisis team, or other designated professional person, and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Social Services as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation. Existing law also provides for the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons for 72 hours following a court-ordered evaluation that determines the person, as a result of a mental health disorder, or as a result of impairment by chronic alcoholism, is a danger to self or others, or is gravely disabled. Under existing law, if a person is involuntarily detained for 72 hours under those provisions, the person may be certified for not more than 14 days of intensive treatment related to the mental health disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism under specified conditions, including that the professional staff of the agency or facility providing evaluation services has analyzed the person's condition and has found the person is, as a result of a mental health disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism, a danger to others, or to self, or gravely disabled, and that the person has been advised of the need for, but has not been willing or able to accept, treatment on a voluntary basis. This bill would authorize the person, after being detained for the initial 72 hours, to be certified for that intensive treatment for a period longer than 14 days, as determined by the professional staff providing the evaluation, and under those same conditions.