2023 New York Laws › MHY - Mental Hygiene › Title E - General Provisions › Article 81 - Proceedings for Appointment of a Guardian for Personal Needs or Property Management › 81.03 - Definitions.

§ 81.03 Definitions.
When used in this article,
(a) "guardian" means a person who is eighteen years of age or older, a
corporation,  or a public agency, including a local department of social
services, appointed in accordance with terms  of  this  article  by  the
supreme  court,  the  surrogate's  court,  or the county court to act on
behalf of an incapacitated person in providing for personal needs and/or
for property management.
(b) "functional level" means the ability to provide for personal needs
and/or the ability with respect to property management.
(c) "functional limitations" means behavior or conditions of a  person
which  impair  the ability to provide for personal needs and/or property
management.
(d) "least restrictive form of intervention"  means  that  the  powers
granted  by  the court to the guardian with respect to the incapacitated
person represent only those powers which are necessary  to  provide  for
that  person's  personal  needs and/or property management and which are
consistent  with  affording  that  person   the   greatest   amount   of
independence   and   self-determination   in   light  of  that  person's
understanding and appreciation of the nature and consequences of his  or
her functional limitations.
(e) "available resources" means resources such as, but not limited to,
visiting  nurses,  homemakers,  home  health  aides,  adult day care and
multipurpose senior citizen centers, powers  of  attorney,  health  care
proxies,  trusts,  representative and protective payees, and residential
care facilities.
(f) "personal needs" means needs such as, but not  limited  to,  food,
clothing, shelter, health care, and safety.
(g) "property  management" means taking actions to obtain, administer,
protect, and dispose of real and personal property, intangible property,
business property, benefits, and  income  and  to  deal  with  financial
affairs.
(h) "activities  of  daily  living"  means activities such as, but not
limited   to,   mobility,   eating,   toileting,   dressing,   grooming,
housekeeping,  cooking,  shopping, money management, banking, driving or
using public transportation, and other activities  related  to  personal
needs and to property management.
(i) "major  medical  or dental treatment" means a medical, surgical or
diagnostic intervention or procedure where a general anesthetic is  used
or  which  involves  any significant risk or any significant invasion of
bodily integrity requiring an incision or  producing  substantial  pain,
discomfort,  debilitation,  or  having a significant recovery period, or
which  involves  the  administration  of  psychotropic   medication   or
electroconvulsive  therapy; it does not include any routine diagnosis or
treatment  such  as  the  administration  of  medications   other   than
chemotherapy   for   non-psychiatric  conditions  or  nutrition  or  the
extraction of bodily fluids for analysis; dental care performed  with  a
local  anesthetic; and any procedures which are provided under emergency
circumstances, pursuant to section two thousand five hundred four of the
public health law.
(j) "life sustaining  treatment"  means  medical  treatment  which  is
sustaining  life  functions  and  without which, according to reasonable
medical judgment, the patient will die within a  relatively  short  time
period.
(k) "facility" means a facility, hospital, or school, or an alcoholism
facility in this state as such terms are defined in section 1.03 of this
chapter,  a  substance  abuse program as such term is defined in article
nineteen of this chapter, an adult care facility as such term is defined

in section two of the social services law, or a residential health  care
facility  or a general hospital as such terms are defined in section two
thousand eight hundred one of the public health law.
(l)  "mental  hygiene facility" means a facility, hospital, or school,
or an alcoholism facility in this state as such  terms  are  defined  in
section 1.03 of this chapter.