Vermont Severe Mental Illness Information, Laws, & Helpful Resources

VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7504(a). Upon written application by an interested party made under the pains and penalties of perjury and accompanied by a certificate by a licensed physician who is not the applicant, a person shall be held for admission to a hospital for an emergency examination to determine if he or she is a person in need of treatment. VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7101(9). “Interested party” means a guardian, spouse, parent, adult child, close adult relative, a responsible adult friend, or person who has the individual in his or her charge or care. It also means a mental health professional, a law enforcement officer, a licensed physician, or a head of a hospital. VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7505. (a) In emergency circumstances where certification by a licensed physician is not available without serious and unreasonable delay, and when personal observation of the conduct of a person constitutes reasonable grounds to believe that the person is a person in need of treatment, and the person presents an immediate risk of serious injury to self or others if not restrained, a law enforcement officer or mental health professional may make an application, not accompanied by a physician’s certificate, to any Superior judge for a warrant for an emergency examination. The application shall be based on facts personally observed by the mental health professional or the law enforcement officer or shall be supported by a statement of facts under penalty of perjury by a person who personally observed the facts that form the basis of the application. (b)(1) The law enforcement officer may take the person into temporary custody if the law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that the person poses a risk of harm to self or others. The law enforcement officer or a mental health professional shall apply to the court for the warrant without delay while the person is in temporary custody. The law enforcement officer, or a mental health professional if clinically appropriate, may then transport the person if the law enforcement officer or mental health professional conducting the transport has probable cause to believe that the person poses a risk of harm to self or others. (2) Transports conducted pursuant to this subsection shall provide individuals with the same protections as provided to individuals in the custody of the Commissioner who are transported pursuant to section 7511 of this title. (c) If the judge is satisfied that a physician’s certificate is not available without serious and unreasonable delay, and that probable cause exists to believe that the person is in need of an emergency examination, the judge may order the person to submit to an evaluation by a licensed physician for that purpose. (d)(1) If necessary, the court may order the law enforcement officer to transport the person to a hospital for an evaluation by a licensed physician to determine if the person should be certified for an emergency examination. (2) Transports conducted pursuant to this subsection shall provide individuals with the same protections as provided to individuals in the custody of the Commissioner who are transported pursuant to section 7511 of this title. (e) Authority to transport a person pursuant to this section shall expire if the person is not taken into custody and transported within 72 hours after a warrant is issued by a Superior judge.

VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7612(a). An interested party may, by filing a written application, commence proceedings for the involuntary treatment of an individual by judicial process. VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7101(9). “Interested party” means a guardian, spouse, parent, adult child, close adult relative, a responsible adult friend, or person who has the individual in his or her charge or care. It also means a mental health professional, a law enforcement officer, a licensed physician, or a head of a hospital. VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7611. No person may be made subject to involuntary treatment unless he is found to be a person in need of treatment or a patient in need of further treatment. VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7101(17). "A person in need of treatment" means a person who has a mental illness and, as a result of that mental illness, his or her capacity to exercise self-control, judgment, or discretion in the conduct of his or her affairs and social relations is so lessened that he or she poses a danger of harm to himself, to herself, or to others: (A) A danger of harm to others may be shown by establishing that: (i) he or she has inflicted or attempted to inflict bodily harm on another; or (ii) by his or her threats or actions he or she has placed others in reasonable fear of physical harm to themselves; or (iii) by his or her actions or inactions he or she has presented a danger to persons in his or her care. (B) A danger of harm to himself or herself may be shown by establishing that: (i) he or she has threatened or attempted suicide or serious bodily harm; or (ii) he or she has behaved in such a manner as to indicate that he or she is unable, without supervision and the assistance of others, to satisfy his or her need for nourishment, personal or medical care, shelter, or self-protection and safety, so that it is probable that death, substantial physical bodily injury, serious mental deterioration, or serious physical debilitation or disease will ensue unless adequate treatment is afforded. VT. STAT. ANN. tit. 18, § 7101(16) "A patient in need of further treatment" means: (A) A person in need of treatment; or (B) A patient who is receiving adequate treatment, and who, if such treatment is discontinued, presents a substantial probability that in the near future his or her condition will deteriorate and he or she will become a person in need of treatment.