§ 30-603 — Terms, defined

For purposes of the Health Care Surrogacy Act:
(1) Adult means an individual who is nineteen years of age or older;
(2) Advance health care directive means an individual instruction under the Health Care Surrogacy Act, a declaration executed in accordance with the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, or a power of attorney for health care;
(3) Agent means a natural person designated in a power of attorney for health care to make a health care decision on behalf of the natural person granting the power;
(4) Capable means (a) able to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of a proposed health care decision, including the benefits of, risks of, and alternatives to any proposed health care, and (b) able to communicate in any manner such health care decision;
(5) Emancipated minor means a minor who is emancipated pursuant to the law of this state or another state, including section 43-2101 ;
(6) Guardian means a judicially appointed guardian or conservator having authority to make a health care decision for a natural person;
(7) Health care means any care, treatment, service, procedure, or intervention to maintain, diagnose, cure, care for, treat, or otherwise affect an individual's physical or mental condition;
(8)(a) Health care decision means a decision made by an individual or the individual's agent, guardian, or surrogate regarding the individual's health care, including consent, refusal of consent, or withdrawal of consent to health care; and
(b) Health care decision includes:
(i) Selection and discharge of health care providers, health care facilities, and health care services;
(ii) Approval or disapproval of diagnostic tests, surgical procedures, programs of medication, and orders not to resuscitate; and
(iii) Directions to provide nutrition, hydration, and all other forms of health care;
(9) Health care facility means a facility licensed under the Health Care Facility Licensure Act or permitted by law to provide health care in the ordinary course of business;
(10) Health care provider means a natural person credentialed under the Uniform Credentialing Act or permitted by law to provide health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession;
(11) Health care service means an adult day service, a home health agency, a hospice or hospice service, a respite care service, or a children's day health service licensed under the Health Care Facility Licensure Act or permitted by law to provide health care in the ordinary course of business. Health care service does not include an in-home personal services agency as defined in section 71-6501 ;
(12) Incapable means lacking the ability to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of a proposed health care decision, including the benefits of, risks of, and alternatives to any proposed health care, or lacking the ability to communicate in any manner such health care decision;
(13) Individual means an adult or an emancipated minor for whom a health care decision is to be made;
(14) Individual instruction means an individual's direction concerning a health care decision for the individual;
(15) Life-sustaining procedure means any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention that (a) uses mechanical or other artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a spontaneous vital function and (b) when applied to a person who is in a terminal condition or who is in a persistent vegetative state, serves only to prolong the dying process. Life-sustaining procedure does not include routine care necessary to maintain patient comfort or the usual and typical provision of nutrition and hydration;
(16) Persistent vegetative state means a medical condition that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty as determined in accordance with then current accepted medical standards, is characterized by a total and irreversible loss of consciousness and capacity for cognitive interaction with the environment and no reasonable hope of improvement;
(17) Physician means a natural person licensed to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine under the Uniform Credentialing Act;
(18) Power of attorney for health care means the designation of an agent under sections 30-3401 to 30-3432 or a similar law of another state to make health care decisions for the principal;
(19) Primary health care provider means (a) a physician designated by an individual or the individual's agent, guardian, or surrogate to have primary responsibility for the individual's health care or, in the absence of a designation or if the designated physician is not reasonably available, a physician who undertakes the responsibility or (b) if there is no such primary physician or such primary physician is not reasonably available, the health care provider who has undertaken primary responsibility for an individual's health care;
(20) Principal means a natural person who, when competent, confers upon another natural person a power of attorney for health care;
(21) Reasonably available means readily able to be contacted without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner considering the urgency of an individual's health care needs;
(22) State means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;
(23) Surrogate means a natural person who is authorized under section 30-604 to make a health care decision on behalf of an individual when a guardian or an agent under a power of attorney for health care has not been appointed or otherwise designated for such individual;
(24) Terminal condition means a medical condition caused by injury, disease, or physical illness which, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, will result in death within six months regardless of the continued application of medical treatment, including life-sustaining procedures; and
(25) Usual and typical provision of nutrition and hydration means delivery of food and fluids orally, including by cup, eating utensil, bottle, or drinking straw.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 2018, LB104, § 3. Cross References: Health Care Facility Licensure Act, see section 71-401. Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, see section 20-401. Uniform Credentialing Act, see section 38-101.