2994-A - Definitions.

§  2994-a.  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  has married.    2. "Attending physician" means a physician, selected by or assigned to  a  patient  pursuant  to hospital policy, 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 an attending  physician pursuant to this article.    3.  "Cardiopulmonary  resuscitation"  means  measures, as specified in  regulations promulgated by the commissioner, to restore cardiac function  or to support ventilation in the  event  of  a  cardiac  or  respiratory  arrest.  Cardiopulmonary  resuscitation  shall  not  include measures to  improve ventilation and cardiac function in the absence of an arrest.    4. "Close friend" means any person, eighteen years of  age  or  older,  who  is  a  close  friend  of  the patient, or a relative of the patient  (other than a spouse, adult child, parent, brother or sister),  who  has  maintained  such regular contact with the patient as to be familiar with  the patient's activities, health, and religious or  moral  beliefs,  and  who  presents  a  signed  statement  to  that  effect  to  the attending  physician.    5. "Decision-making capacity" means  the  ability  to  understand  and  appreciate   the  nature  and  consequences  of  proposed  health  care,  including the benefits and risks of and alternatives to proposed  health  care, and to reach an informed decision.    6.  "Developmental  disability"  means  a  developmental disability as  defined in subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03 of the mental  hygiene  law.    7.  "Domestic  partner"  means  a  person who, with respect to another  person:    (a)  is  formally  a  party  in  a  domestic  partnership  or  similar  relationship with the other person, entered into pursuant to the laws of  the  United  States  or  of any state, local or foreign jurisdiction, or  registered as the domestic partner of the other person with any registry  maintained by the employer of either party or any  state,  municipality,  or foreign jurisdiction; or    (b)  is  formally  recognized as a beneficiary or covered person under  the other person's employment benefits or health insurance; or    (c) is dependent or mutually interdependent on the  other  person  for  support,  as evidenced by the totality of the circumstances indicating a  mutual intent to be domestic partners  including  but  not  limited  to:  common  ownership  or joint leasing of real or personal property; common  householding, shared income or  shared  expenses;  children  in  common;  signs of intent to marry or become domestic partners under paragraph (a)  or  (b)  of this subdivision; or the length of the personal relationship  of the persons.    Each party to a domestic partnership shall be  considered  to  be  the  domestic  partner  of  the  other  party.  "Domestic  partner" shall not  include a person who is related to the other person by blood in a manner  that would bar marriage to the other person in New York state. "Domestic  partner" also shall not include any person who  is  less  than  eighteen  years  of  age or who is the adopted child of the other person or who is  related by blood in a manner that would bar marriage in New  York  state  to a person who is the lawful spouse of the other person.8. "Emancipated minor patient" means a minor patient who is the parent  of  a  child,  or  who  is  sixteen  years  of  age  or older and living  independently from his or her parents or guardian.    9.  "Ethics  review  committee"  means the interdisciplinary committee  established in accordance with the requirements of  section  twenty-nine  hundred ninety-four-m of this article.    10.  "General  hospital"  means  a  general  hospital  as  defined  in  subdivision ten of section twenty-eight  hundred  one  of  this  chapter  excluding  a  ward,  wing,  unit  or  other  part  of a general hospital  operated for the purpose of providing services for persons  with  mental  illness  pursuant to an operating certificate issued by the commissioner  of mental health.    11. "Guardian of a minor" or "guardian" means a health  care  guardian  or a legal guardian of the person of a minor.    12.  "Health  care"  means  any  treatment,  service,  or procedure to  diagnose  or  treat  an  individual's  physical  or  mental   condition.  Providing  nutrition  or  hydration  orally, without reliance on medical  treatment, is not health care under this article and is not  subject  to  this article.    13.  "Health  care  agent"  means a health care agent designated by an  adult pursuant to article twenty-nine-C of this chapter.    14. "Health care decision" means any decision to consent or refuse  to  consent to health care.    15.  "Health  care guardian" means an individual appointed by a court,  pursuant  to   subdivision   four   of   section   twenty-nine   hundred  ninety-four-r of this article, as the guardian of a minor patient solely  for  the purpose of deciding about life-sustaining treatment pursuant to  this article.    16. "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.    17.  "Health  or  social  service  practitioner"  means  a  registered  professional  nurse, nurse practitioner, physician, physician assistant,  psychologist or licensed clinical social worker, licensed  or  certified  pursuant  to  the  education  law  acting  within  his  or  her scope of  practice.    18. "Hospital" means a general hospital or a residential  health  care  facility.    19.   "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 the  purpose  of  this  article,  cardiopulmonary  resuscitation  is  presumed  to be life-sustaining treatment without the  necessity of a determination by an attending physician.    20. "Mental hygiene facility" means a facility operated or licensed by  the office of mental health or the  office  of  mental  retardation  and  developmental disabilities as defined in subdivision six of section 1.03  of the mental hygiene law.    21.  "Mental illness" means a mental illness as defined in subdivision  twenty of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, and does  not  include  dementia,  such  as  Alzheimer's  disease, or other disorders related to  dementia.    22. "Minor" means any person who is not an adult.    23.  "Order  not  to  resuscitate"  means  an  order  not  to  attempt  cardiopulmonary  resuscitation in the event a patient suffers cardiac or  respiratory arrest.24. "Parent", for the purpose of a health care decision about a  minor  patient,  means  a  parent  who  has  custody  of, or who has maintained  substantial and continuous contact with, the minor patient.    25. "Patient" means a person admitted to a hospital.    26.  "Person connected with the case" means the patient, any person on  the surrogate list, a  parent  or  guardian  of  a  minor  patient,  the  hospital  administrator,  an  attending  physician,  any other health or  social services practitioner who is or has been directly involved in the  patient's care, and any duly  authorized  state  agency,  including  the  facility  director or regional director for a patient transferred from a  mental  hygiene  facility  and  the  facility  director  for  a  patient  transferred from a correctional facility.    27.  "Reasonably available" means that a person to be contacted can be  contacted with diligent  efforts  by  an  attending  physician,  another  person acting on behalf of an attending physician, or the hospital.    28. "Residential health care facility" means a residential health care  facility as defined in subdivision three of section twenty-eight hundred  one of this chapter.    29.  "Surrogate"  means  the  person  selected  to  make a health care  decision on behalf of a patient pursuant to section twenty-nine  hundred  ninety-four-d of this article.    30.  "Surrogate  list"  means the list set forth in subdivision one of  section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this article.