Ohio Severe Mental Illness Information, Laws, & Helpful Resources

OHIO REV. CODE ANN. § 5122.10 (A) (1) Any of the following who has reason to believe that a person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if allowed to remain at liberty pending examination may take the person into custody and may immediately transport the person to a hospital or, notwithstanding section 5119.33 of the Revised Code, to a general hospital not licensed by the department of mental health and addiction services where the person may be held for the period prescribed in this section: (a) A psychiatrist; (b) A licensed physician; (c) A licensed clinical psychologist; (d) A clinical nurse specialist who is certified as a psychiatric-mental health CNS by the American nurses credentialing center; (e) A certified nurse practitioner who is certified as a psychiatric-mental health NP by the American nurses credentialing center; (f) A health officer; (g) A parole officer; (h) A police officer; (i) A sheriff. (2) If the chief of the adult parole authority or a parole or probation officer with the approval of the chief of the authority has reason to believe that a parolee, an offender under a community control sanction or post-release control sanction, or an offender under transitional control is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if allowed to remain at liberty pending examination, the chief or officer may take the parolee or offender into custody and may immediately transport the parolee or offender to a hospital or, notwithstanding section 5119.33 of the Revised Code, to a general hospital not licensed by the department of mental health and addiction services where the parolee or offender may be held for the period prescribed in this section. (B) A written statement shall be given to the hospital by the individual authorized under division (A)(1) or (2) of this section to transport the person. The statement shall specify the circumstances under which such person was taken into custody and the reasons for the belief that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if allowed to remain at liberty pending examination. This statement shall be made available to the respondent or the respondent’s attorney upon request of either. (C) Every reasonable and appropriate effort shall be made to take persons into custody in the least conspicuous manner possible. A person taking the respondent into custody pursuant to this section shall explain to the respondent: the name and professional designation and affiliation of the person taking the respondent into custody; that the custody-taking is not a criminal arrest; and that the person is being taken for examination by mental health professionals at a specified mental health facility identified by name. (D) If a person taken into custody under this section is transported to a general hospital, the general hospital may admit the person, or provide care and treatment for the person, or both, notwithstanding section 5119.33 of the Revised Code, but by the end of twenty-four hours after arrival at the general hospital, the person shall be transferred to a hospital as defined in section 5122.01 of the Revised Code. (E) A person transported or transferred to a hospital or community mental health services provider under this section shall be examined by the staff of the hospital or services provider within twenty-four hours after arrival at the hospital or services provider. If to conduct the examination requires that the person remain overnight, the hospital or services provider shall admit the person in an unclassified status until making a disposition under this section. After the examination, if the chief clinical officer of the hospital or services provider believes that the person is not a person with a mental illness subject to court order, the chief clinical officer shall release or discharge the person immediately unless a court has issued a temporary order of detention applicable to the person under section 5122.11 of the Revised Code. After the examination, if the chief clinical officer believes that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order, the chief clinical officer may detain the person for not more than three court days following the day of the examination and during such period admit the person as a voluntary patient under section 5122.02 of the Revised Code or file an affidavit under section 5122.11 of the Revised Code. If neither action is taken and a court has not otherwise issued a temporary order of detention applicable to the person under section 5122.11 of the Revised Code, the chief clinical officer shall discharge the person at the end of the three-day period unless the person has been sentenced to the department of rehabilitation and correction and has not been released from the person’s sentence, in which case the person shall be returned to that department.

OHIO REV. CODE ANN. § 5122.11. Proceedings for a person with a mental illness subject to court order pursuant to sections 5122.11 to 5122.15 of the Revised Code shall be commenced by the filing of an affidavit in the manner prescribed by the department of mental health and addiction services and in a form prescribed in section 5122.111 of the Revised Code, by any person or persons with the probate court, either on reliable information or actual knowledge, whichever is determined to be proper by the court. This section does not apply to the hospitalization of a person pursuant to section 2945.39, 2945.40, 2945.401, or 2945.402 of the Revised Code. The affidavit shall contain an allegation setting forth the specific category or categories under division (B) of section 5122.01 of the Revised Code upon which the jurisdiction of the court is based and a statement of alleged facts sufficient to indicate probable cause to believe that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order. The affidavit may be accompanied, or the court may require that the affidavit be accompanied, by a certificate of a psychiatrist, or a certificate signed by a licensed clinical psychologist and a certificate signed by a licensed physician stating that the person who issued the certificate has examined the person and is of the opinion that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order, or shall be accompanied by a written statement by the applicant, under oath, that the person has refused to submit to an examination by a psychiatrist, or by a licensed clinical psychologist and licensed physician. Upon receipt of the affidavit, if a judge of the court or a referee who is an attorney at law appointed by the court has probable cause to believe that the person named in the affidavit is a person with a mental illness subject to court order, the judge or referee may issue a temporary order of detention ordering any health or police officer or sheriff to take into custody and transport the person to a hospital or other place designated in section 5122.17 of the Revised Code, or may set the matter for further hearing. If a temporary order of detention is issued and the person is transported to a hospital or other designated place, the court that issued the order shall retain jurisdiction over the case as it relates to the person’s outpatient treatment, notwithstanding that the hospital or other designated place to which the person is transported is outside the territorial jurisdiction of the court. The person may be observed and treated until the hearing provided for in section 5122.141 of the Revised Code. If no such hearing is held, the person may be observed and treated until the hearing provided for in section 5122.15 of the Revised Code. * If the court relies exclusively on definition under § 5122.01(B)(5), only outpatient commitment may be ordered. OHIO REV. CODE ANN. § 5122.15(C). If, upon completion of the hearing, the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the respondent is a person with a mental illness subject to court order, the court shall order the respondent for a period not to exceed ninety days to any of the following: (1) A hospital operated by the department of mental health and addiction services if the respondent is committed pursuant to section 5139.08 of the Revised Code; (2) A nonpublic hospital; (3) The veterans’ administration or other agency of the United States government; (4) A board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services or services provider the board designates; (5) Receive private psychiatric or psychological care and treatment; (6) Any other suitable facility or person consistent with the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment needs of the respondent. A jail or other local correctional facility is not a suitable facility. OHIO REV. CODE ANN. § 5122.01(B). “Person with a mental illness subject to court order” means a person with a mental illness who, because of the person’s illness: (1) Represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self as manifested by evidence of threats of, or attempts at, suicide or serious self-inflicted bodily harm; (2) Represents a substantial risk of physical harm to others as manifested by evidence of recent homicidal or other violent behavior, evidence of recent threats that place another in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious physical harm, or other evidence of present dangerousness; (3) Represents a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical impairment or injury to self as manifested by evidence that the person is unable to provide for and is not providing for the person’s basic physical needs because of the person’s mental illness and that appropriate provision for those needs cannot be made immediately available in the community; (4) Would benefit from treatment for the person’s mental illness and is in need of such treatment as manifested by evidence of behavior that creates a grave and imminent risk to substantial rights of others or the person; (5) (a) Would benefit from treatment as manifested by evidence of behavior that indicates all of the following: (i) The person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, based on a clinical determination. (ii) The person has a history of lack of compliance with treatment for mental illness and one of the following applies: (I) At least twice within the thirty-six months prior to the filing of an affidavit seeking court-ordered treatment of the person under section 5122.111 of the Revised Code, the lack of compliance has been a significant factor in necessitating hospitalization in a hospital or receipt of services in a forensic or other mental health unit of a correctional facility, provided that the thirty-six-month period shall be extended by the length of any hospitalization or incarceration of the person that occurred within the thirty-six-month period. (II) Within the forty-eight months prior to the filing of an affidavit seeking court-ordered treatment of the person under section 5122.111 of the Revised Code, the lack of compliance resulted in one or more acts of serious violent behavior toward self or others or threats of, or attempts at, serious physical harm to self or others, provided that the forty-eight-month period shall be extended by the length of any hospitalization or incarceration of the person that occurred within the forty-eight-month period. (iii) The person, as a result of the person’s mental illness, is unlikely to voluntarily participate in necessary treatment. (iv) In view of the person’s treatment history and current behavior, the person is in need of treatment in order to prevent a relapse or deterioration that would be likely to result in substantial risk of serious harm to the person or others. (b) An individual who meets only the criteria described in division (B)(5)(a) of this section is not subject to hospitalization.

* If the court relies exclusively on definition under § 5122.01(B)(5), only outpatient commitment may be ordered. OHIO REV. CODE ANN. § 5122.01(B)(5) (a) Would benefit from treatment as manifested by evidence of behavior that indicates all of the following: (i) The person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, based on a clinical determination. (ii) The person has a history of lack of compliance with treatment for mental illness and one of the following applies: (I) At least twice within the thirty-six months prior to the filing of an affidavit seeking court-ordered treatment of the person under section 5122.111 of the Revised Code, the lack of compliance has been a significant factor in necessitating hospitalization in a hospital or receipt of services in a forensic or other mental health unit of a correctional facility, provided that the thirty-six-month period shall be extended by the length of any hospitalization or incarceration of the person that occurred within the thirty-six-month period. (II) Within the forty-eight months prior to the filing of an affidavit seeking court-ordered treatment of the person under section 5122.111 of the Revised Code, the lack of compliance resulted in one or more acts of serious violent behavior toward self or others or threats of, or attempts at, serious physical harm to self or others, provided that the forty-eight-month period shall be extended by the length of any hospitalization or incarceration of the person that occurred within the forty-eight-month period. (iii) The person, as a result of the person’s mental illness, is unlikely to voluntarily participate in necessary treatment. (iv) In view of the person’s treatment history and current behavior, the person is in need of treatment in order to prevent a relapse or deterioration that would be likely to result in substantial risk of serious harm to the person or others. (b) An individual who meets only the criteria described in division (B)(5)(a) of this section is not subject to hospitalization.