Taken In For An Evaluation

In Arizona, a written application for emergency admission has to be made to an evaluation agency before a person may be hospitalized there. The applicant is someone with knowledge of the facts, such as a relative or friend, a peace officer, the admitting officer or another responsible person.

• §A.R.S. 36-524

• A statement that the applicant believes the person, as a result of a mental disorder, is a danger to self or others or has a persistent or acute disability or a grave disability, and is unable or unwilling to undergo voluntary evaluation.
• A statement that, during the time screening would take, the person is likely without immediate hospitalization to suffer or inflict serious physical harm or suffer serious illness.
• The specific nature of that harm or illness.
• A summary of the supporting facts, including what witnesses observed.
• The applicant's signature.

• §A.R.S. 36-524

A telephonic application may be made not more than twenty-four hours before a written one, and it is made by or in the presence of a peace officer, unless a listed licensed health care professional caring for the patient makes it. If the admitting officer has reasonable cause to believe an emergency examination is necessary, the officer may advise a peace officer that there are grounds to take the person into custody, and the peace officer, on that request, apprehends and transports the person to the agency.

• §A.R.S. 36-524

If the application is denied, the agency keeps it with the medical director's written reasons. How long a person may be held after admission, and the petition and hearing that may follow, are in other sections of the article and are not reproduced here. Whether an admission met the statute is a question for a court and for a licensed Arizona attorney.

• §A.R.S. 36-524