Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 51 - State alcohol, drug abuse, developmental disabilities and mental health act.
51.01 - Definitions.

51.01 Definitions. As used in this chapter, except where otherwise expressly provided:
(1) “Alcoholic" means a person who is suffering from alcoholism.
(1m) “Alcoholism" is a disease which is characterized by the dependency of a person on the drug alcohol, to the extent that the person's health is substantially impaired or endangered or his or her social or economic functioning is substantially disrupted.
(2) “Approved treatment facility" means any publicly or privately operated treatment facility or unit thereof approved by the department for treatment of alcoholic, drug dependent, mentally ill or developmentally disabled persons.
(2c) “Approved tribal treatment facility" means a treatment agency that operates under the direction and control of a federally recognized American Indian tribe or band in this state and meets the standards prescribed for approved treatment facilities under s. 51.45 (8) (a) and is approved under s. 51.45 (8) (c).
(2g)
(a) “Brain injury" means any injury to the brain, regardless of age at onset, whether mechanical or infectious in origin, including brain trauma, brain damage and traumatic head injury, the results of which are expected to continue indefinitely, which constitutes a substantial handicap to the individual, and which directly results in any 2 or more of the following:
1. Attention impairment.
2. Cognition impairment.
3. Language impairment.
4. Memory impairment.
5. Conduct disorder.
6. Motor disorder.
7. Any other neurological dysfunction.
(am) “Brain injury" includes any injury to the brain under par. (a) that is vascular in origin if received by a person prior to his or her attaining the age of 22 years.
(b) “Brain injury" does not include alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease as specified under s. 46.87 (1) (a), or degenerative brain disorder, as defined in s. 55.01 (1v).
(3) “Center for the developmentally disabled" means any facility which is operated by the department and which provides services including, but not limited to, 24-hour treatment, consultation, training and education for developmentally disabled persons.
(3n) “Community mental health program" means a program to provide community-based outpatient mental health services that is operated by or under contract with a county department of community programs or that requests payment for the services under the medical assistance program or under benefits required under s. 632.89 (2).
(3s) “Community support program" means a coordinated care and treatment system that provides a network of services through an identified treatment program and staff to ensure ongoing therapeutic involvement and individualized treatment in the community for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness.
(4) “Conditional transfer" means a transfer of a patient or resident to a less restrictive environment for treatment which is made subject to conditions imposed for the benefit of the patient or resident.
(4g) “County of residence" means the county that is determined under s. 51.40 to be the county of residence.
(4r) “Degenerative brain disorder" means the loss or dysfunction of brain cells to the extent that the individual is substantially impaired in his or her ability to provide adequately for his or her own care or custody or to manage adequately his or her property or financial affairs.
(5)
(a) “Developmental disability" means a disability attributable to brain injury, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, Prader-Willi syndrome, intellectual disability, or another neurological condition closely related to an intellectual disability or requiring treatment similar to that required for individuals with an intellectual disability, which has continued or can be expected to continue indefinitely and constitutes a substantial handicap to the afflicted individual. “Developmental disability" does not include dementia that is primarily caused by degenerative brain disorder.
(b) “Developmental disability", for purposes of involuntary commitment, does not include cerebral palsy or epilepsy.
(6) “Director" means the person in charge of a state treatment facility, state or local treatment center, or approved private facility.
(7) “Discharge" of a patient who is under involuntary commitment orders means a termination of custody and treatment obligations of the patient to the authority to which the patient was committed by court action. The “discharge" of a patient who is voluntarily admitted to a treatment program or facility means a termination of treatment obligations between the patient and the treatment program or facility.
(8) “Drug dependence" means a disease that is characterized by a person's use of one or more drugs that is beyond the person's ability to control to the extent that the person's physical health is substantially impaired or his or her social or economic functioning is substantially disrupted.
(8b) “Drug dependent" means suffering from drug dependence.
(9) “Hospital" has the meaning given under s. 50.33.
(10) “Inpatient facility" means a public or private hospital or unit of a hospital which has as its primary purpose the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of mental illness, developmental disability, alcoholism or drug abuse and which provides 24-hour care.
(10m) “Juvenile correctional facility" has the meaning given in s. 938.02 (10p).
(11) “Law enforcement officer" means any person who by virtue of the person's office or public employment is vested by law with the duty to maintain public order or to make arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of the person's authority.
(11m) “Licensed mental health professional" has the meaning given in s. 632.89 (1) (dm).
(12) “Mental health institute" means any institution operated by the department for specialized psychiatric services, research, education, and which is responsible for consultation with community programs for education and quality of care.
(13)
(a) “Mental illness" means mental disease to such extent that a person so afflicted requires care and treatment for his or her own welfare, or the welfare of others, or of the community.
(b) “Mental illness", for purposes of involuntary commitment, means a substantial disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory which grossly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, but does not include alcoholism.
(14) “Residence" has the meaning given under s. 49.001 (6).
(14k) “Secured residential care center for children and youth" has the meaning given in s. 938.02 (15g).
(14t) “Serious and persistent mental illness" means a mental illness that is severe in degree and persistent in duration, that causes a substantially diminished level of functioning in the primary aspects of daily living and an inability to cope with the ordinary demands of life, that may lead to an inability to maintain stable adjustment and independent functioning without long-term treatment and support, and that may be of lifelong duration. “Serious and persistent mental illness" includes schizophrenia as well as a wide spectrum of psychotic and other severely disabling psychiatric diagnostic categories, but does not include degenerative brain disorder or a primary diagnosis of a developmental disability or of alcohol or drug dependence.
(15) “State treatment facility" means any of the institutions operated by the department for the purpose of providing diagnosis, care or treatment for mental or emotional disturbance, developmental disability, alcoholism or drug dependency and includes but is not limited to mental health institutes.
(16) “Transfer" means the movement of a patient or resident between approved treatment facilities or to or from an approved treatment facility and the community.
(17) “Treatment" means those psychological, educational, social, chemical, medical or somatic techniques designed to bring about rehabilitation of a mentally ill, alcoholic, drug dependent or developmentally disabled person.
(18) “Treatment director" means the person who has primary responsibility for the treatment provided by a treatment facility. The term includes the medical director of a facility.
(19) “Treatment facility" means any publicly or privately operated facility or unit thereof providing treatment of alcoholic, drug dependent, mentally ill or developmentally disabled persons, including but not limited to inpatient and outpatient treatment programs, community support programs and rehabilitation programs.
History: 1975 c. 430 ss. 11, 81; 1977 c. 26; 1977 c. 203 s. 106; 1977 c. 428; 1981 c. 79 s. 17; 1983 a. 189 s. 329 (19); 1983 a. 441; 1985 a. 29 s. 3202 (23); 1985 a. 265, 307; 1993 a. 445; 1995 a. 27; 1997 a. 47; 1999 a. 9; 2005 a. 264, 344, 387, 388; 2007 a. 45; 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 126; 2013 a. 246; 2017 a. 34.
Cross-reference: See s. 46.011 for definitions applicable to chs. 46, 48, 50, 51, 54, 55, and 58.
“Treatment" does not include habilitation. Milwaukee County Combined Community Services Board v. Athans, 107 Wis. 2d 331, 320 N.W.2d 30 (Ct. App. 1982).
Alzheimer's disease is one type of a degenerative brain disorder. This chapter includes the definition of degenerative brain disorder only to specifically exclude it from the chapter's authority, whereas the ch. 55 definition is used to include it in the scope of authority granted under ch. 55. Rehabilitation is a necessary element of treatment under this chapter. Because there are no techniques that can be employed to bring about rehabilitation from Alzheimer's disease, an individual with the disease cannot be rehabilitated. Accordingly, an Alzheimer's patient is not a proper subject for treatment under this chapter. Fond du Lac County v. Helen E.F., 2011 WI App 72, 333 Wis. 2d 740, 798 N.W.2d 707, 10-2061.
Affirmed. 2012 WI 50, 340 Wis. 2d 500, 814 N.W.2d 179, 10-2061.
“Rehabilitation,” as used in sub. (17), addresses the control of symptoms. It comprises treatment going beyond custodial care to affect the disease and symptoms. But rehabilitation is not synonymous with cure. A symptom is an expression of the disorder at work within the patient. Rehabilitation refers to improving the patient's condition through ameliorating endogenous factors such as symptoms and behaviors. If a treatment controls symptoms to such a degree that withdrawing it would subject the patient to a more restrictive treatment alternative, then the treatment controls enough symptoms to establish the patient has rehabilitative potential. Waukesha County v. J.W.J., 2017 WI 57, 375 Wis. 2d 542, 895 N.W.2d 783, 16-0046.

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