Virginia Law

As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Abuse" means any act or failure to act by an employee or other person responsible for the care of an individual in a facility or program operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, that was performed or was failed to be performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, and that caused or might have caused physical or psychological harm, injury, or death to an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. Examples of abuse include acts such as:

1. Rape, sexual assault, or other criminal sexual behavior;

2. Assault or battery;

3. Use of language that demeans, threatens, intimidates, or humiliates the individual;

4. Misuse or misappropriation of the individual's assets, goods, or property;

5. Use of excessive force when placing an individual in physical or mechanical restraint;

6. Use of physical or mechanical restraints on an individual that is not in compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, and policies, professionally accepted standards of practice, or his individualized services plan; and

7. Use of more restrictive or intensive services or denial of services to punish an individual or that is not consistent with his individualized services plan.

"Administrative policy community services board" or "administrative policy board" means the public body organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 (§ 37.2-500 et seq.) that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of each city and county that established it to set policy for and administer the provision of mental health, developmental, and substance abuse services. The "administrative policy community services board" or "administrative policy board" denotes the board, the members of which are appointed pursuant to § 37.2-501 with the powers and duties enumerated in subsection A of § 37.2-504 and § 37.2-505. Mental health, developmental, and substance abuse services are provided through local government staff or through contracts with other organizations and providers.

"Behavioral health authority" or "authority" means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 (§ 37.2-600 et seq.) that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of the city or county that established it for the provision of mental health, developmental, and substance abuse services. "Behavioral health authority" or "authority" also includes the organization that provides these services through its own staff or through contracts with other organizations and providers.

"Behavioral health services" means the full range of mental health and substance abuse services.

"Board" means the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

"Community services board" means the public body established pursuant to § 37.2-501 that provides mental health, developmental, and substance abuse services within each city and county that established it; the term "community services board" shall include administrative policy community services boards, operating community services boards, and local government departments with policy-advisory community services boards.

"Department" means the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

"Developmental disability" means a severe, chronic disability of an individual that (i) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment, or a combination of mental and physical impairments, other than a sole diagnosis of mental illness; (ii) is manifested before the individual reaches 22 years of age; (iii) is likely to continue indefinitely; (iv) results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, or economic self-sufficiency; and (v) reflects the individual's need for a combination and sequence of special interdisciplinary or generic services, individualized supports, or other forms of assistance that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated. An individual from birth to age nine, inclusive, who has a substantial developmental delay or specific congenital or acquired condition may be considered to have a developmental disability without meeting three or more of the criteria described in clauses (i) through (v) if the individual, without services and supports, has a high probability of meeting those criteria later in life.

"Developmental services" means planned, individualized, and person-centered services and supports provided to individuals with developmental disabilities for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible.

"Facility" means a state or licensed hospital, training center, psychiatric hospital, or other type of residential or outpatient mental health or developmental services facility. When modified by the word "state," "facility" means a state hospital or training center operated by the Department, including the buildings and land associated with it.

"Family member" means an immediate family member of an individual receiving services or the principal caregiver of that individual. A principal caregiver is a person who acts in the place of an immediate family member, including other relatives and foster care providers, but does not have a proprietary interest in the care of the individual receiving services.

"Hospital," when not modified by the words "state" or "licensed," means a state hospital and a licensed hospital that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness.

"Individual receiving services" or "individual" means a current direct recipient of public or private mental health, developmental, or substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, or habilitation services and includes the terms "consumer," "patient," "resident," "recipient," or "client."

"Intellectual disability" means a disability, originating before the age of 18 years, characterized concurrently by (i) significant subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning, administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean and (ii) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills.

"Licensed hospital" means a hospital or institution, including a psychiatric unit of a general hospital, that is licensed pursuant to the provisions of this title.

"Mental health services" means planned individualized interventions intended to reduce or ameliorate mental illness or the effects of mental illness through care, treatment, counseling, rehabilitation, medical or psychiatric care, or other supports provided to individuals with mental illness for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain remunerative employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible.

"Mental illness" means a disorder of thought, mood, emotion, perception, or orientation that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to address basic life necessities and requires care and treatment for the health, safety, or recovery of the individual or for the safety of others.

"Neglect" means failure by a person or a program or facility operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, responsible for providing services to do so, including nourishment, treatment, care, goods, or services necessary to the health, safety, or welfare of an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse.

"Operating community services board" or "operating board" means the public body organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 (§ 37.2-500 et seq.) that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of each city and county that established it for the direct provision of mental health, developmental, and substance abuse services. The "operating community services board" or "operating board" denotes the board, the members of which are appointed pursuant to § 37.2-501 with the powers and duties enumerated in subsection A of § 37.2-504 and § 37.2-505. "Operating community services board" or "operating board" also includes the organization that provides such services, through its own staff or through contracts with other organizations and providers.

"Performance contract" means the annual agreement negotiated and entered into by a community services board or behavioral health authority with the Department through which it provides state and federal funds appropriated for mental health, developmental, and substance abuse services to that community services board or behavioral health authority.

"Policy-advisory community services board" or "policy-advisory board" means the public body organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 that is appointed by and accountable to the governing body of each city or county that established it to provide advice on policy matters to the local government department that provides mental health, developmental, and substance abuse services pursuant to subsection A of § 37.2-504 and § 37.2-505. The "policy-advisory community services board" or "policy-advisory board" denotes the board, the members of which are appointed pursuant to § 37.2-501 with the powers and duties enumerated in subsection B of § 37.2-504.

"Service area" means the city or county or combination of cities and counties or counties or cities that is served by a community services board or behavioral health authority or the cities and counties that are served by a state facility.

"Special justice" means a person appointed by a chief judge of a judicial circuit for the purpose of performing the duties of a judge pursuant to § 37.2-803.

"State hospital" means a hospital, psychiatric institute, or other institution operated by the Department that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness.

"Substance abuse" means the use of drugs, enumerated in the Virginia Drug Control Act (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.), without a compelling medical reason or alcohol that (i) results in psychological or physiological dependence or danger to self or others as a function of continued and compulsive use or (ii) results in mental, emotional, or physical impairment that causes socially dysfunctional or socially disordering behavior and (iii), because of such substance abuse, requires care and treatment for the health of the individual. This care and treatment may include counseling, rehabilitation, or medical or psychiatric care.

"Training center" means a facility operated by the Department that provides training, habilitation, or other individually focused supports to persons with intellectual disability.

Code 1950, §§ 37-1.1, 37-34.2:1, 37-254.1; 1950, pp. 899, 935; 1954, c. 668; 1958, c. 556; 1960, c. 133; 1964, cc. 483, 640; 1968, c. 477, § 37.1-1; 1972, cc. 635, 639; 1973, c. 465; 1974, c. 301; 1976, cc. 671, 767, § 37.1-203; 1979, c. 54; 1980, c. 582; 1982, c. 50; 1983, c. 538; 1984, c. 209; 1987, c. 413; 1994, c. 939; 1995, c. 693, § 15.1-1677; 1996, c. 861; 1997, c. 587, § 37.1-243; 1998, cc. 680, 724, § 37.1-194.1; 1999, c. 969; 2005, c. 716; 2009, cc. 813, 840; 2012, cc. 476, 507; 2015, c. 750; 2017, c. 458.

Whenever in this title the Board, the Commissioner, or the Department is required to send any mail or notice by certified mail and such mail or notice is sent certified mail, return receipt requested, then any subsequent, identical mail or notice that is sent by the Board, the Commissioner, or the Department may be sent by regular mail.

2011, c. 566.