Glossary
In Health and Disability, Mental health
If you’re detained, it means you’re not allowed to leave a place such as a psychiatric facility or jail. It means you have to stay there even if you do not want to. The law gives some people, such as the police or your doctor, the right to detain you in certain situations. For example, if you’re likely to seriously hurt yourself or someone else.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Elder abuse, Health and Disability, Long‑term care
Elder abuse happens when someone limits or controls an older person’s rights and freedoms. The person often becomes afraid and thinks that they can no longer make their own choices.
Abusers are often people who the person trusts. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, or financial. It can also be abuse if a person is neglected. Neglect happens when someone agrees to provide care to an older adult but does not look after their basic needs.
All abuse is wrong and is not the fault of the person who’s abused. But not all abuse is a crime. For example, if a caregiver tells someone they’re worthless, that’s abuse, not a crime. If a caregiver hits an older adult, that’s a crime.
In Health and Disability, Canada Pension Plan disability benefits (CPP), Eligibility, Applications, Appeals, Income Assistance, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) disability benefits, Eligibility, Applications, Appeals
Evidence is used to prove that something is true or false. There are different types of evidence, such as information from witnesses, and documents like letters from a doctor. Tribunals look at evidence when making decisions.
A guardian of the person is someone who a court appoints to make personal decisions for you if you’re not mentally capable of making them. This includes decisions about where you live, what you eat, getting dressed, washing and having a bath, and staying safe. It also includes decisions about medical treatment and health care.
Their role is to make the decisions you would make for yourself. If they do not know what you would want, they must decide based on what they believe is best for you.
In Health and Disability, Mental health
A health-care provider is a person who takes care of or treats your physical or mental health. For example, a doctor, nurse, therapist, or counsellor. A health-care provider must have a professional license.
A health-care provider is someone who takes care of or treats your physical or mental health. This could be a doctor, nurse, therapist, or counsellor. A health-care provider must have a professional license.
Some health-care providers can decide if a person is mentally capable of making decisions.
In a psychiatric facility, only a doctor can decide this. In other facilities, including hospitals and long-term care homes, health-care providers who complete the government’s capacity assessor course can decide.
Someone who’s mentally capable gives informed consent when they agree to medical treatment after getting information about:
- the type of treatment
- how the treatment could help them
- risks and side effects of the treatment
- any other options for treatment
In Health and Disability, Mental health
You’re an involuntary patient if your doctor signs a “certificate of involuntary admission”. This can only happen after your doctor:
- examines you to confirm you currently have a mental disorder or you have a mental disorder that comes and goes, and
- believes that your mental disorder will cause serious harm to you or someone else unless you stay in a psychiatric facility.
Only an involuntary patient can be held in a psychiatric facility against their will.
In Family Law, Health and Disability, Mental health, Immigration Law, Refugee Law
A legal aid certificate is a document that says Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) covers the cost of a private lawyer to work on your legal problem for a certain number of hours.
To get a legal aid certificate, you must show that your income and assets are low enough, and that your legal issue is one that LAO covers.
In Elder abuse
In Ontario, long-term care homes are licensed places where adults live when they need:
- access to nursing care and personal care that’s on site and available 24 hours a day
- help with most or all daily activities, for example, eating, bathing, and using the toilet
They’re sometimes called nursing homes, charitable homes, or municipal homes for the aged.
Residents in long-term care homes pay for their room and board. The provincial government sets the fees and they’re the same in for-profit and not-for-profit homes. The government pays the cost of residents’ health care. Residents have to pay for extra services, such as hairdressing, dental care, and private personal support workers.