New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 14 - DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HYGIENE
Chapter XIII - Office of Mental Health
Part 540 - Patients Committed To The Custody Of The Commissioner Pursuant To Cpl Article 730
Section 540.2 - Definitions

(a) Application means an application to the hospital forensic committee or clinical director.

(b) Certified psychologist means a person who has been certified and registered to practice psychology in New York State pursuant to the education law.

(c) Clinical director means the person in charge of clinical services at the facility where the patient is receiving care and treatment. In facilities in which the director is a physician, this term refers to the director. If the director of the facility is not a physician, this term refers to the deputy director for clinical services.

(d) Commissioner means the New York State Commissioner of Mental Health.

(e) Conditional release means the act of ending a facility's inpatient period of service to a patient without ending the facility's legal responsibility for the patient.

(f) Court means the court which issued the order under article 730 of the Criminal Procedure Law by which the patient was committed to the facility in which he or she is presently receiving care and treatment.

(g) Day means all days of the week excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

(h) Discharge means the act of ending a facility's inpatient period of service to a patient and the facility's legal responsibility for that patient.

(i) Escorted furlough means any occasion on which a patient leaves the confines of the facility where he or she is receiving care and treatment, except for the receipt of medical care, appearance in court, or attendance at the funeral of an immediate family member, and during which he or she is under the constant supervision of one or more employees of the appropriate office facility.

(j) Final order of observation means an order entered by a local criminal court pursuant to section 730.40 (1) and (2) of the Criminal Procedure Law or by a superior court pursuant to section 730.50 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Law which commits a criminal defendant found to be an "incapacitated person" to the custody of the commissioner for a period of up to 90 days and simultaneously dismisses the criminal charges against the defendant.

(k) Hospital forensic committee or committee means a committee established in accordance with section 540.3 of this Part.

(l) Incapacitated person means a criminal defendant found by the court, as a result of mental disease or defect, to lack capacity to understand the proceedings against him or her or to assist in his or her own defense.

(m) Office facility means any inpatient hospital within the Office of Mental Health.

(n) Order of commitment means an order issued by a superior court pursuant to section 730.50 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Law which commits a criminal defendant accused of a felony, and found to be an "incapacitated person," to the custody of the commissioner for a period of up to one year, but which does not result in dismissal of the criminal charges against the defendant.

(o) Order of retention means an order issued by a superior court pursuant to section 730.50 (2) or (3) of the Criminal Procedure Law at the expiration of an order of commitment or a prior order of retention which retains a criminal defendant in the continued custody of the commissioner for a period not to exceed one or two years without dismissing the criminal charges against the defendant.

(p) Patient means any inpatient committed to an office facility by a court order issued pursuant to article 730 of the Criminal Procedure Law, or whose present status as an inpatient is the result of his or her continued retention as a civil patient after the expiration of such court order. For purposes of this Part, the term patient shall not include persons remanded to the custody of an office facility pursuant to a final order of observation, as defined in subdivision (i) of this section, or who are admitted to an office facility immediately following a remand pursuant to such order.

(q) Psychiatric examiner means a qualified psychiatrist or a certified psychologist who has been designated by a director to examine a defendant pursuant to an order of examination. In facilities in which the director is not a physician, the director may delegate this authority to the deputy director for clinical services.

(r) Qualified psychiatrist means a physician who:

(s) Temporary order of observation means an order issued by a local criminal court pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law, section 730.40(1) and (2), which applies to a criminal defendant accused but not indicted of a felony offense and found by the court to be an "incapacitated person" and commits him or her to the custody of the commissioner for a period of up to 90 days, but which does not automatically result in dismissal of the criminal charges against the defendant.

(t) Transfer means the transfer of a patient from a secure facility to a nonsecure facility.

(u) Unescorted furlough means any occasion on which a patient leaves the confines of the building where he or she is receiving care and treatment and during which such leaving is with permission of the facility and without the constant supervision of one or more employees of the facility.

(v) Unit chief means the administrator in charge of the unit where the defendant is receiving care and treatment.