2023 New York Laws › PBH - Public Health › Article 29-CC - Family Health Care Decisions Act › 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  practitioner" means a physician, nurse practitioner or
physician assistant, 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,  nurse  practitioner
or physician assistant shares such responsibility, or where a physician,
nurse  practitioner  or  physician  assistant is acting on the attending
practitioner's  behalf,  any  such  physician,  nurse  practitioner   or
physician  assistant  may  act  as an attending practitioner pursuant to
this article.
2-a.  "Attending  nurse  practitioner"  means  a  nurse  practitioner,
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  and/or nurse practitioner shares such
responsibility, or where a physician or nurse practitioner is acting  on
the  attending physician's or attending nurse practitioner's behalf, any
such physician or nurse practitioner may act as an  attending  physician
or attending nurse practitioner 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
practitioner.
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.
5-a.  "Decisions  regarding hospice care" means the decision to enroll
or disenroll in hospice, and consent to the hospice  plan  of  care  and
modifications to that plan.
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.
17-a. "Hospice" means a hospice as defined in article  forty  of  this
chapter, without regard to where the hospice care is provided.
18.  "Hospital"  means  a  general hospital, a residential health care
facility, or hospice.
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 for people with 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.
22-a.  "Nurse  practitioner"  means  a  nurse  practitioner  certified
pursuant  to  section sixty-nine hundred ten of the education law who is
practicing in accordance with subdivision three  of  section  sixty-nine
hundred two of the education law.
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.