Advance Instruction for Mental Health Treatment: Questions &
Answers
Q. What is an Advance
Instruction for Mental Health Treatment (AIMHT)?
A. An AIMHT is a legal document that allows you to tell
your doctor and other healthcare providers about your preferences
and instructions regarding your mental healthcare treatment, if
you are no longer able to make these decisions yourself.
Q. What is "Mental Health
Treatment"?
A. Mental health treatment is defined by North Carolina law
to include:
1) Electroconvulsive treatment
(Examples might include electroshock therapy or drugs that can
produce convulsions); 2) Psychoactive drugs (drugs that work on
your central nervous system; and 3) Admission to and retention in
a facility for the care or treatment of mental illness.
Q. When does an AIMHT go
into effect?
A. An AIMHT goes into effect when your doctor or mental
healthcare provider determines that you no longer understand the
nature and consequences of proposed mental health treatment and
that you cannot make decisions about that treatment.
Q. Does the AIMHT have to be
signed and witnessed?
A. Yes. You must sign (or have someone sign the document in
your presence or at your direction, if you are unable to sign) and
date the document. Then it must be witnessed by two qualified
adults and notarized.
The following people cannot witness
your signature of the AIMHT: 1) Your attending physician or mental
health service provider; 2) An employee of your attending
physician or mental health service provider; or 3) An owner or
operator of a healthcare facility in which you are a patient or a
resident; or 4) Anyone related to you or your spouse within the
third degree (grandparents, parents, children or grandchildren).
Q. Where can I get an AIMHT
form?
A. Because of space limitations, the AIMHT form suggested
by North Carolina law has not been provided here. You should
contact your doctor or other healthcare provider to get a copy of
the suggested document, or you can send $2 and a self-addressed
stamped envelope to Professional Media Resources, P.O. Box 460380,
St. Louis, MO, 63146, and the document will be mailed to you.
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