2980. Definitions. The following words or phrases, used in this article, shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Adult" means any person who is eighteen years of age or older, or is the parent of a child, or has married.
2. "Attending physician" means the physician, selected by or assigned to a patient, who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient. Where more than one physician shares such responsibility, or where a physician is acting on the attending physician's behalf, any such physician may act as the attending physician pursuant to this article.
3. "Capacity to make health care decisions" means the ability to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of health care decisions, including the benefits and risks of and alternatives to any proposed health care, and to reach an informed decision.
4. "Health care" means any treatment, service or procedure to diagnose or treat an individual's physical or mental condition.
5. "Health care agent" or "agent" means an adult to whom authority to make health care decisions is delegated under a health care proxy.
6. "Health care decision" means any decision to consent or refuse to consent to health care.
7. "Health care provider" means an individual or facility licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to administer health care in the ordinary course of business or professional practice.
8. "Health care proxy" means a document delegating the authority to make health care decisions, executed in accordance with the requirements of this article.
9. "Hospital" means a general hospital as defined in subdivision ten of section two thousand eight hundred one of this chapter and a residential health care facility as defined in subdivision three of section two thousand eight hundred one of this chapter, and a mental hygiene facility as defined in subdivision ten of this section and a hospice as defined in subdivision one of section four thousand two of this chapter.
9-a. "Life-sustaining treatment" means any medical treatment or procedure without which the patient will die within a relatively short time, as determined by an attending physician to a reasonable degree of medical certainty. For purposes of this article, cardiopulmonary resuscitation is presumed to be a life sustaining treatment without the necessity of a determination by an attending physician.
10. "Mental hygiene facility" means a residential facility, excluding family care homes, operated or licensed by the office of mental health or the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
11. "Mental illness" means a mental illness as defined in subdivision twenty of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, provided, however, that mental illness shall not include dementia, such as alzheimer's disease or other disorders related to dementia.
12. "Principal" means a person who has executed a health care proxy.
13. "Reasonably available" means that a person to be contacted can be contacted with diligent efforts by an attending physician or another person acting on behalf of the attending physician or the hospital.
14. "Residential health care facility" means a residential health care facility as defined in subdivision three of section two thousand eight hundred one of this chapter.
15. "Qualified psychiatrist" means, for the purposes of this article, a physician licensed to practice medicine in New York state who: (a) is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology or is eligible to be certified by that board; or (b) is certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry or is eligible to be certified by that board.
Last modified: February 3, 2019