Unless the context otherwise requires, as used in sections2133.01to2133.15of the Revised Code:
(A) "Adult" means an individual who is eighteen years of age or older.
(B) "Attending physician" means the physician to whom a declarant or other patient, or the family of a declarant or other patient, has assigned primary responsibility for the treatment or care of the declarant or other patient, or, if the responsibility has not been assigned, the physician who has accepted that responsibility.
(C) "Comfort care" means any of the following:
(1) Nutrition when administered to diminish the pain or discomfort of a declarant or other patient, but not to postpone the declarant's or other patient's death;
(2) Hydration when administered to diminish the pain or discomfort of a declarant or other patient, but not to postpone the declarant's or other patient's death;
(3) Any other medical or nursing procedure, treatment, intervention, or other measure that is taken to diminish the pain or discomfort of a declarant or other patient, but not to postpone the declarant's or other patient's death.
(D) "Consulting physician" means a physician who, in conjunction with the attending physician of a declarant or other patient, makes one or more determinations that are required to be made by the attending physician, or to be made by the attending physician and one other physician, by an applicable provision of this chapter, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty and in accordance with reasonable medical standards.
(E) "Declarant" means any adult who has executed a declaration in accordance with section2133.02of the Revised Code.
(F) "Declaration" means a written document executed in accordance with section2133.02of the Revised Code.
(G) "Durable power of attorney for health care" means a document created pursuant to sections1337.11to1337.17of the Revised Code.
(H) "Guardian" means a person appointed by a probate court pursuant to Chapter 2111. of the Revised Code to have the care and management of the person of an incompetent.
(I) "Health care facility" means any of the following:
(1) A hospital;
(2) A hospice care program, pediatric respite care program, or other institution that specializes in comfort care of patients in a terminal condition or in a permanently unconscious state;
(3) A nursing home or residential care facility, as defined in section3721.01of the Revised Code;
(4) A home health agency and any residential facility where a person is receiving care under the direction of a home health agency;
(5) An intermediate care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
(J) "Health care personnel" means physicians, nurses, physician assistants, emergency medical technicians-basic, emergency medical technicians-intermediate, emergency medical technicians-paramedic, medical technicians, dietitians, other authorized persons acting under the direction of an attending physician, and administrators of health care facilities.
(K) "Home health agency" has the same meaning as in section3740.01of the Revised Code.
(L) "Hospice care program" and "pediatric respite care program" have the same meanings as in section3712.01of the Revised Code.
(M) "Hospital" has the same meanings as in sections3701.01,3727.01, and5122.01of the Revised Code.
(N) "Hydration" means fluids that are artificially or technologically administered.
(O) "Incompetent" has the same meaning as in section2111.01of the Revised Code.
(P) "Intermediate care facility for the individuals with intellectual disabilities" has the same meaning as in section5124.01of the Revised Code.
(Q) "Life-sustaining treatment" means any medical procedure, treatment, intervention, or other measure that, when administered to a qualified patient or other patient, will serve principally to prolong the process of dying.
(R) "Nurse" means a person who is licensed to practice nursing as a registered nurse or to practice practical nursing as a licensed practical nurse pursuant to Chapter 4723. of the Revised Code.
(S) "Nursing home" has the same meaning as in section3721.01of the Revised Code.
(T) "Nutrition" means sustenance that is artificially or technologically administered.
(U) "Permanently unconscious state" means a state of permanent unconsciousness in a declarant or other patient that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty as determined in accordance with reasonable medical standards by the declarant's or other patient's attending physician and one other physician who has examined the declarant or other patient, is characterized by both of the following:
(1) Irreversible unawareness of one's being and environment.
(2) Total loss of cerebral cortical functioning, resulting in the declarant or other patient having no capacity to experience pain or suffering.
(V) "Person" has the same meaning as in section1.59of the Revised Code and additionally includes political subdivisions and governmental agencies, boards, commissions, departments, institutions, offices, and other instrumentalities.
(W) "Physician" means a person who is authorized under Chapter 4731. of the Revised Code to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery.
(X) "Political subdivision" and "state" have the same meanings as in section2744.01of the Revised Code.
(Y) "Professional disciplinary action" means action taken by the board or other entity that regulates the professional conduct of health care personnel, including the state medical board and the board of nursing.
(Z) "Qualified patient" means an adult who has executed a declaration and has been determined to be in a terminal condition or in a permanently unconscious state.
(AA) "Terminal condition" means an irreversible, incurable, and untreatable condition caused by disease, illness, or injury from which, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty as determined in accordance with reasonable medical standards by a declarant's or other patient's attending physician and one other physician who has examined the declarant or other patient, both of the following apply:
(1) There can be no recovery.
(2) Death is likely to occur within a relatively short time if life-sustaining treatment is not administered.
(BB) "Tort action" means a civil action for damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property, other than a civil action for damages for breach of a contract or another agreement between persons.
Last updated July 26, 2021 at 9:05 AM