A. The legislature recognizes that many adults in the state are unable to manage their own affairs or protect themselves from abuse, neglect or exploitation. The legislature further recognizes that the state should protect adults by providing for the detection, correction and elimination of abuse, neglect or exploitation through a program of short-term services for adults in need of protective services or protective placement.

B. It is the purpose of the Adult Protective Services Act to establish a system of protective services and protective placement and to ensure the availability of those services or placement to all adults in need of them. It is also the purpose of the Adult Protective Services Act to authorize only the least possible restriction on the exercise of personal and civil rights and religious beliefs consistent with the adult's need for protective services or protective placement and to require that due process be followed in imposing those restrictions.

C. Nothing in the Adult Protective Services Act shall be construed to mean an adult, including an incapacitated adult or a protected adult, is abused, neglected, or exploited if the adult relies upon or is being furnished with spiritual treatment through prayer alone in accordance with the express or implied intent of the adult; nor shall anything in that act be construed to authorize or require any medical care or treatment in contravention of the express or implied wish of that adult.

History: Laws 1989, ch. 389, § 2; 1997, ch. 132, § 1; 2007, ch. 91, § 1.

The 1997 amendment, effective June 20, 1997, inserted "and religious beliefs" in Subsection B and added Subsection C.

The 2007 amendment, effective July 2, 2007, recognizes that the state should protect adults by providing for the detection, correction and elimination of abuse, neglect or exploitation and for protective placement.