Part 1Preliminary

Part 1—Preliminary 1—Short title This Act may be cited as the Mental Health Act 2009. 3—Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears— absent without leave—see subsection (2); advance care directive means an advance care directive given under the Advance Care Directives Act 2013 that is in force; ambulance officer means a person who is— (a) employed as an ambulance officer, or engaged as a volunteer ambulance officer, with an organisation that provides ambulance services; and (b) authorised by the chief executive officer of SA Ambulance Service Inc to exercise the powers conferred by this Act on authorised officers; approved treatment centre means a place determined by the Chief Psychiatrist under Part 12 Division 5 to be an approved treatment centre for the purposes of this Act; authorised community mental health facility means a facility that is determined by the Chief Psychiatrist under Part 12 Division 5 to be an authorised community mental health facility; authorised medical practitioner means a person determined by the Chief Psychiatrist under Part 12 Division 3 to be an authorised medical practitioner for the purposes of this Act; authorised mental health professional means a person determined by the Chief Psychiatrist under Part 12 Division 4 to be an authorised mental health professional for the purposes of this Act; authorised officer means— (a) a mental health clinician; or (b) an ambulance officer; or (c) a person employed as a medical officer or flight nurse by the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (Central Operations) Incorporated or the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (South Eastern Section); or (d) a person, or a person of a class, approved by the Chief Psychiatrist, by notice in the Gazette, for the purposes of this definition; or (e) any other person, or person of a class, prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition; carer—a person is a carer of another if the person provides ongoing care or assistance to the other as a carer within the meaning of the Carers Recognition Act 2005; the term includes a person who was a carer of another before interruption of the provision of care due to the other's illness; Chief Executive means the chief executive of the Department; Chief Psychiatrist means the person appointed to the position of Chief Psychiatrist under Part 12 Division 2; child means a person under 18 years of age; community treatment order means— (a) a level 1 community treatment order; or (b) a level 2 community treatment order; community visitor means— (a) the person appointed to the position of Principal Community Visitor under Part 8 Division 2; or (b) a person appointed to a position of Community Visitor under Part 8 Division 2; consent to treatment means effective consent to the treatment; decision, of the Tribunal, has the same meaning as in the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013; Department means the administrative unit of the Public Service that is responsible for assisting a Minister in the administration of this Act; director of a treatment centre means the person for the time being in charge of the mental health services of the centre; domestic partner—a person is a domestic partner of another if the person is a domestic partner of the other within the meaning of the Family Relationships Act 1975, whether declared as such under that Act or not; the term includes a person who was a domestic partner of another before interruption of their shared living arrangements due to the other's illness; ECT means electro-convulsive therapy; guardian—a person is a guardian of another if the person is acting or appointed under any Act or law as the guardian of the other; incorporated health service has the same meaning as in the Health Care Act 2008; incorporated hospital has the same meaning as in the Health Care Act 2008; inpatient in a treatment centre means a person admitted as a patient in a treatment centre; inpatient treatment order means— (a) a level 1 inpatient treatment order; or (b) a level 2 inpatient treatment order; or (c) a level 3 inpatient treatment order; internal review means a review under section 70 of the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013; involuntary inpatient means an inpatient who is subject to an inpatient treatment order; leave of absence—see section 36; legal practitioner means a person admitted and enrolled as a practitioner of the Supreme Court of South Australia; level 1 community treatment order—see Part 4 Division 1; level 1 inpatient treatment order—see Part 5 Division 2; level 2 community treatment order—see Part 4 Division 2; level 2 inpatient treatment order—see Part 5 Division 3; level 3 inpatient treatment order—see Part 5 Division 4; limited treatment centre means a place determined by the Chief Psychiatrist under Part 12 Division 5 to be a limited treatment centre for the purposes of this Act; medical agent—a person is a medical agent of another if the person has been appointed under an Act or law to make decisions on behalf of the other about the other's medical treatment; medical examination means examination of a person and the person's mental health by a medical practitioner or authorised mental health professional; medical practitioner means a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law to practise in the medical profession (other than as a student); mental health clinician means a person of a class of persons who are engaged in the treatment or care of patients and classified by the Chief Psychiatrist as mental health clinicians for the purposes of this Act; mental illness means any illness or disorder of the mind; see also Schedule 1 (Certain conduct may not indicate mental illness); neurosurgery for mental illness means leucotomy, amygdaloidotomy, hypothalamotomy, temporal lobectomy, cingulectomy, electrode implantation in the brain or any other brain surgery for the relief of mental illness by the elimination or stimulation of apparently normal brain tissues; patient, in relation to the provision of mental health services, includes (where the context so requires) the following: (a) a voluntary inpatient; (b) a person to whom a community treatment order applies; (c) a person to whom an inpatient treatment order applies; (d) a person to whom section 56 applies; (e) a person with a mental illness (within the meaning of this Act) who is liable to a supervision order under Part 8A of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935; patient assistance request means a patient assistance request issued under Part 9; patient transport request means a patient transport request issued under Part 9 or Part 10; prescribed psychiatric treatment means— (a) ECT; or (b) neurosurgery for mental illness; or (c) any other treatment declared by the regulations to be prescribed psychiatric treatment; Prescribed Psychiatric Treatment Panel or Panel means the Prescribed Psychiatric Treatment Panel established under Part 7 Division A1; psychiatrist means a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law— (a) to practise in the medical profession; and (b) holding specialist registration as a psychiatrist; Public Advocate means the person holding or acting in the office of Public Advocate under the Guardianship and Administration Act 1993; relative—a person is a relative of another if— (a) the person is related to the other by blood or marriage; or (b) the person is a domestic partner of the other; or (c) the person is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent and related to the other according to Aboriginal kinship rules, or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules, as the case may require; restrictive practice, in relation to a patient, includes— (a) the use of physical, mechanical or chemical means to restrain the patient; and (b) seclusion or the confinement of the patient on his or her own in an area from which he or she cannot leave of his or her own volition; senior psychiatrist means a person who has, since qualifying for registration as a specialist in psychiatry, had at least 5 years' experience as a practising psychiatrist; staff of a treatment centre means the director of the centre or any person performing duties involved in the administration or operations of the centre, whether under a contract of employment or some other contractual arrangement; substitute decision‑maker, in respect of a person, means a substitute decision‑maker appointed under an advance care directive given by the person under the Advance Care Directives Act 2013 that is in force; treatment or medical treatment means treatment or procedures administered or carried out by a medical practitioner or other health professional in the course of professional practice, and includes the prescription or supply of drugs; treatment centre means an approved treatment centre or a limited treatment centre; Tribunal means the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal established under the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013; voluntary community patient means a person receiving treatment, care and rehabilitation services for a mental illness in an authorised community mental health facility; voluntary inpatient means an inpatient who is not subject to an inpatient treatment order. (2) For the purposes of this Act, a patient will be taken to be absent without leave if— (a) an inpatient treatment order applies to the patient; and (b) the patient— (i) has not been taken into, or remained in, the care and control of treatment centre staff or an authorised officer or police officer after the making of the order and before admission to a treatment centre; or (ii) has left a treatment centre in which he or she was an involuntary inpatient, or the care and control of treatment centre staff, without leave of absence under Part 5 Division 5; or (iii) has been granted leave of absence from a treatment centre under Part 5 Division 5 but has not returned to the centre, or been taken into the care and control of treatment centre staff or an authorised officer or police officer, by the expiry of the leave or after cancellation of the leave. (3) For the purposes of this Act, a form that has been approved by the Chief Psychiatrist must— (a) be published on the Department's website; and (b) be used for the purposes specified in the form; and (c) contain the information required by, and be presented and completed in accordance with, any instruction contained in the form; and (d) be lodged in the manner and form required by the Chief Psychiatrist. 4—Application of Act (1) This Act applies to children in the same way as to persons of full age, subject to the following: (a) a right conferred on a person under this Act may, if the person is a child under 16 years of age, be exercised by a parent or guardian of the child on behalf of the child; (b) an obligation under this Act to give a document to a person is, if the person is a child under 16 years of age, to be treated as an obligation to give the document to a parent or guardian of the child, and operates to the exclusion of any further obligation under this Act to send or give the document to a guardian, medical agent, relative, carer or friend; (c) an obligation under this Act to give information to a person (including information about the person's illness, any order that applies to the person, his or her legal rights, the treatment and other services that are to be provided or offered to the person and what alternatives are available) is, if the person is a child under 16 years of age, to be treated as an obligation to give the information to a parent or guardian of the child. (2) Subsection (1) does not affect the operation of a provision of this Act that expressly relates to a child or children. (3) Subject to an express provision of this Act or of any other Act, this Act is in addition to and does not derogate from— (a) the Advance Care Directives Act 2013; and (b) the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act 1995; and (c) the Guardianship and Administration Act 1993. 5—Medical examinations by audio‑visual conferencing (1) A reference in this Act to medical examination or examination of a person by a medical practitioner or authorised mental health professional includes, if it is not practicable in the circumstances for a medical practitioner or authorised mental health professional to carry out an examination of the person in the person's physical presence, a reference to an examination of the person by the medical practitioner or authorised mental health professional by means of audio‑visual conferencing. (2) In this section— audio‑visual conferencing means any system of two‑way communication linking different places so that a person speaking at any 1 of the places can be seen and heard at the other. 5A—Decision‑making capacity (1) A person is, in the absence of evidence or a law of the State to the contrary, to be presumed to have full decision‑making capacity in respect of decisions about his or her health care, residential and accommodation arrangements and personal affairs. (2) For the purposes of this Act, a person will be taken to have impaired decision‑making capacity in respect of a particular decision if— (a) the person is not capable of— (i) understanding any information that may be relevant to the decision (including information relating to the consequences of making a particular decision); or (ii) retaining such information; or (iii) using such information in the course of making the decision; or (iv) communicating his or her decision in any manner; or (b) in the case of a person who has given an advance care directive—the person has satisfied any requirement in the advance care directive that sets out when the person is to be considered to have impaired decision‑making capacity (however described) in respect of a decision of the relevant kind. (3) For the purposes of this Act— (a) a person will not be taken to be incapable of understanding information merely because the person is not able to understand matters of a technical or trivial nature; and (b) a person will not be taken to be incapable of retaining information merely because the person can only retain the information for a limited time; and (c) a person may fluctuate between having impaired decision‑making capacity and full decision‑making capacity; and (d) a person's decision‑making capacity will not be taken to be impaired merely because a decision made by the person results, or may result, in an adverse outcome for the person.