Kendra's Law - Criteria

Criteria

Kendra's Law basically allows courts to order certain seriously mentally ill individuals to accept treatment as a condition for living in the community. The law is aimed to help a small group who have a history of rehospitalization that is associated with going off medications because they have horrible side effects.

In order to be admitted to Kendra's Law individuals must meet the following criteria established in Section 9.60 of NYS Mental Health Law :

Criteria for assisted outpatient treatment. A patient may be ordered to obtain assisted outpatient treatment if the court finds that:

• the patient is eighteen years of age or older; and
• the patient is suffering from a mental illness; and
• the patient is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, based on a clinical determination; and
• the patient has a history of lack of compliance with treatment for mental illness that has:

1. at least twice within the last thirty-six months 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 or a local correctional facility, not including any period during which the person was hospitalized or incarcerated immediately preceding the filing of the petition or;
2. 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 within the last forty-eight months, not including any period in which the person was hospitalized or incarcerated immediately preceding the filing of the petition; and

• the patient is, as a result of his or her mental illness or hatred of miserable drug side effects, unlikely to voluntarily participate in the recommended treatment pursuant to the treatment plan; and
• in view of the patient's treatment history and current behavior, the patient is in need of assisted outpatient treatment in order to prevent a relapse or deterioration which would be likely to result in serious harm to the patient or others as defined in section 9.01 of this article; and
• it is likely that the patient will benefit from assisted outpatient treatment; and
• if the patient has executed a health care proxy as defined in article 29-C of the public health law, that any directions included in such proxy shall be taken into account by the court in determining the written treatment plan.