§ 2994-A — Definitions

§ 2994-a. Definitions. The following words or phrases, used in this\narticle, shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise\nrequires:\n 1. "Adult" means any person who is eighteen years of age or older or\nhas married.\n 2. "Attending practitioner" means a physician, nurse practitioner or\nphysician assistant, selected by or assigned to a patient pursuant to\nhospital policy, who has primary responsibility for the treatment and\ncare of the patient. Where more than one physician, nurse practitioner\nor physician assistant shares such responsibility, or where a physician,\nnurse practitioner or physician assistant is acting on the attending\npractitioner's behalf, any such physician, nurse practitioner or\nphysician assistant may act as an attending practitioner pursuant to\nthis article.\n 2-a. "Attending nurse practitioner" means a nurse practitioner,\nselected by or assigned to a patient pursuant to hospital policy, who\nhas primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient.\nWhere more than one physician and/or nurse practitioner shares such\nresponsibility, or where a physician or nurse practitioner is acting on\nthe attending physician's or attending nurse practitioner's behalf, any\nsuch physician or nurse practitioner may act as an attending physician\nor attending nurse practitioner pursuant to this article.\n 3. "Cardiopulmonary resuscitation" means measures, as specified in\nregulations promulgated by the commissioner, to restore cardiac function\nor to support ventilation in the event of a cardiac or respiratory\narrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation shall not include measures to\nimprove ventilation and cardiac function in the absence of an arrest.\n 4. "Close friend" means any person, eighteen years of age or older,\nwho is a close friend of the patient, or a relative of the patient\n(other than a spouse, adult child, parent, brother or sister), who has\nmaintained such regular contact with the patient as to be familiar with\nthe patient's activities, health, and religious or moral beliefs, and\nwho presents a signed statement to that effect to the attending\npractitioner.\n 5. "Decision-making capacity" means the ability to understand and\nappreciate the nature and consequences of proposed health care,\nincluding the benefits and risks of and alternatives to proposed health\ncare, and to reach an informed decision.\n 5-a. "Decisions regarding hospice care" means the decision to enroll\nor disenroll in hospice, and consent to the hospice plan of care and\nmodifications to that plan.\n 6. "Developmental disability" means a developmental disability as\ndefined in subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene\nlaw.\n 7. "Domestic partner" means a person who, with respect to another\nperson:\n (a) is formally a party in a domestic partnership or similar\nrelationship with the other person, entered into pursuant to the laws of\nthe United States or of any state, local or foreign jurisdiction, or\nregistered as the domestic partner of the other person with any registry\nmaintained by the employer of either party or any state, municipality,\nor foreign jurisdiction; or\n (b) is formally recognized as a beneficiary or covered person under\nthe other person's employment benefits or health insurance; or\n (c) is dependent or mutually interdependent on the other person for\nsupport, as evidenced by the totality of the circumstances indicating a\nmutual intent to be domestic partners including but not limited to:\ncommon ownership or joint leasing of real or personal property; common\nhouseholding, shared income or shared expenses; children in common;\nsigns of intent to marry or become domestic partners under paragraph (a)\nor (b) of this subdivision; or the length of the personal relationship\nof the persons.\n Each party to a domestic partnership shall be considered to be the\ndomestic partner of the other party. "Domestic partner" shall not\ninclude a person who is related to the other person by blood in a manner\nthat would bar marriage to the other person in New York state. "Domestic\npartner" also shall not include any person who is less than eighteen\nyears of age or who is the adopted child of the other person or who is\nrelated by blood in a manner that would bar marriage in New York state\nto a person who is the lawful spouse of the other person.\n 8. "Emancipated minor patient" means a minor patient who is the parent\nof a child, or who is sixteen years of age or older and living\nindependently from his or her parents or guardian.\n 9. "Ethics review committee" means the interdisciplinary committee\nestablished in accordance with the requirements of section twenty-nine\nhundred ninety-four-m of this article.\n 10. "General hospital" means a general hospital as defined in\nsubdivision ten of section twenty-eight hundred one of this chapter\nexcluding a ward, wing, unit or other part of a general hospital\noperated for the purpose of providing services for persons with mental\nillness pursuant to an operating certificate issued by the commissioner\nof mental health.\n 11. "Guardian of a minor" or "guardian" means a health care guardian\nor a legal guardian of the person of a minor.\n 12. "Health care" means any treatment, service, or procedure to\ndiagnose or treat an individual's physical or mental condition.\nProviding nutrition or hydration orally, without reliance on medical\ntreatment, is not health care under this article and is not subject to\nthis article.\n 13. "Health care agent" means a health care agent designated by an\nadult pursuant to article twenty-nine-C of this chapter.\n 14. "Health care decision" means any decision to consent or refuse to\nconsent to health care.\n 15. "Health care guardian" means an individual appointed by a court,\npursuant to subdivision four of section twenty-nine hundred\nninety-four-r of this article, as the guardian of a minor patient solely\nfor the purpose of deciding about life-sustaining treatment pursuant to\nthis article.\n 16. "Health care provider" means an individual or facility licensed,\ncertified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to administer\nhealth care in the ordinary course of business or professional practice.\n 17. "Health or social services practitioner" means a registered\nprofessional nurse, nurse practitioner, physician, physician assistant,\npsychologist, licensed master social worker, or licensed clinical social\nworker, licensed, certified or authorized under the education law acting\nwithin such health or social services practitioner's scope of practice.\n 17-a. "Hospice" means a hospice as defined in article forty of this\nchapter, without regard to where the hospice care is provided.\n 18. "Hospital" means a general hospital, a residential health care\nfacility, or hospice.\n 19. "Life-sustaining treatment" means any medical treatment or\nprocedure without which the patient will die within a relatively short\ntime, as determined by an attending physician to a reasonable degree of\nmedical certainty. For the purpose of this article, cardiopulmonary\nresuscitation is presumed to be life-sustaining treatment without the\nnecessity of a determination by an attending physician.\n 20. "Mental hygiene facility" means a facility operated or licensed by\nthe office of mental health or the office for people with developmental\ndisabilities as defined in subdivision six of section 1.03 of the mental\nhygiene law.\n 21. "Mental illness" means a mental illness as defined in subdivision\ntwenty of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, and does not include\ndementia, such as Alzheimer's disease, or other disorders related to\ndementia.\n 22. "Minor" means any person who is not an adult.\n 22-a. "Nurse practitioner" means a nurse practitioner certified\npursuant to section sixty-nine hundred ten of the education law who is\npracticing in accordance with subdivision three of section sixty-nine\nhundred two of the education law.\n 23. "Order not to resuscitate" means an order not to attempt\ncardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event a patient suffers cardiac or\nrespiratory arrest.\n 24. "Parent", for the purpose of a health care decision about a minor\npatient, means a parent who has custody of, or who has maintained\nsubstantial and continuous contact with, the minor patient.\n 25. "Patient" means a person admitted to a hospital.\n 26. "Person connected with the case" means the patient, any person on\nthe surrogate list, a parent or guardian of a minor patient, the\nhospital administrator, an attending practitioner, any other health or\nsocial services practitioner who is or has been directly involved in the\npatient's care, and any duly authorized state agency, including the\nfacility director or regional director for a patient transferred from a\nmental hygiene facility and the facility director for a patient\ntransferred from a correctional facility.\n 27. "Reasonably available" means that a person to be contacted can be\ncontacted with diligent efforts by an attending physician, another\nperson acting on behalf of an attending physician, or the hospital.\n 28. "Residential health care facility" means a residential health care\nfacility as defined in subdivision three of section twenty-eight hundred\none of this chapter.\n 29. "Surrogate" means the person selected to make a health care\ndecision on behalf of a patient pursuant to section twenty-nine hundred\nninety-four-d of this article.\n 30. "Surrogate list" means the list set forth in subdivision one of\nsection twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this article.\n