2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART VII - Hospitals, Institutions and Health Programs (§§ 3001 — 3891) › Chapter 132 - Bill of Rights and Responsibilities of the Patient (§§ 3041 — 3058) › § 3041 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated below:
(a) Insurer.— Means any person or entity authorized by the Insurance Commissioner to conduct insurance business as such in Puerto Rico that assumes a contractual risk in consideration of or exchange for the payment of a premium, including health services organizations. For purposes of this chapter, the term insurer also includes any nonprofit association, society, or mutual assistance or aid association that has established, keeps, and operates in Puerto Rico any surgical medical services and hospitalization services plan for partners in consideration of payment of fees, or any entity engaged in the business of underwriting insurance contracts or offering healthcare service benefit plans.
(b) Cover.— Means all the benefits included in a health care plan for the insured and beneficiaries of the same.
(c) Commissioner.— Refers to the Insurance Commissioner of Puerto Rico.
(d) Terminal condition.— Refers to a medical condition whose prognosis is that the life expectancy of the person is of six (6) months or less.
(e) Department.— Means the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(f) Medical emergency.— Refers to a medical condition made manifest by sufficiently severe acute symptoms, including severe pain, whereby a reasonably prudent lay person with average knowledge of health and medical matters, may expect that without immediate medical attention his health would be dangerously undermined or that the proper function of any bodily member or organ would be seriously impaired or when it concerns a pregnant woman having contractions, when there is not sufficient time to transfer her to other installations before going into labor, or that to transfer her would entail endangering the health of the woman or the unborn child.
(g) Health facilities.— Means any facilities identified and defined as such in §§ 331 et seq. of this title, known as the “Puerto Rico Health Facilities Act”, or the provisions of any future law concerning said subject.
(h) Act.— Means the “Bill of Rights and Responsibilities of the Patient”.
(i) Patient.— Refers to those persons who are or shall be subject to treatment for their health, be it because of a physical or mental condition, and who consult a health professional or submit themselves to an examination by the latter for the purpose of obtaining information for staying in good health, obtaining a diagnosis of their state of health or for the treatment of an illness or injury affecting their health, including preventive diagnoses or treatments for the early detection of possible medical conditions or complications of those already diagnosed and for prolonging the life and improving the quality of life of those with existing complications, regardless of whether or not they are subscribers or beneficiaries of a public or private healthcare plan.
(j) Person.— Means any natural or juridical person born, created or established pursuant to the laws of Puerto Rico.
(k) Health care plan.— Means any agreement whereby any person commits him/herself to provide a subscriber, insured person, or group of subscribers or insured persons with certain healthcare or health insurance services, whether directly or through a provider, or to pay, in whole or in part, the cost of such services in consideration of the payment of an amount already fixed in such agreement which is deemed to be earned, regardless of whether the subscriber or insured person uses or does not use the healthcare services provided by the plan. The foregoing includes health insurance plans, healthcare plans, or any other insurance contract of a nature similar to that of such plans, regardless of the insurer offering such contract.
(l) Premium.— Means the money paid to an insurer for assuming a risk through an insurance contract.
(m) Health professional.— Means any practitioner duly licensed to practice in Puerto Rico, according to the laws and regulations that may apply, any of the health and medical care professions, such as, but not limited to, physicians, surgeons, podiatrists, naturopathic physicians, chiropractors, optometrists, clinical psychologists, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, audiologists, and medical technologists, in accordance with the authorization of the corresponding laws of Puerto Rico.
(n) Provider.— Means any person or entity authorized by the laws of Puerto Rico to render or provide medical-hospital health care services in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(o) Secretary.— Means the Secretary of the Department of Health of Puerto Rico.
(p) Clinical psychologist.— Means the professional licensed by the Examining Board of Psychologists of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as defined in §§ 3201 et seq. of Title 20, known as the “Act to Regulate the Practice of the Profession of Psychology in Puerto Rico”.
(q) Chiropractic physician or chiropractor.— Means the professional that is licensed by the Board of Examiners of Chiropractors of Puerto Rico, as defined in §§ 151 et seq. of Title 20.
(r) Naturopathic physician.— Means a professional duly licensed by the Board of Examiners of Doctors of Naturopathic Medicine of Puerto Rico, as defined in §§ 2451—2466 of Title 20, known as the “Act to Regulate the Practice of Naturopathic Medicine in Puerto Rico”.
(s) Guardianship.— Authority conferred in order to take care of a person and the property thereof because said person is underage or otherwise lacks full legal capacity.
(t) Ward.— The person under the care of a guardian.
(u) Guardian.— The person who discharges the duties of a guardianship, which includes the legal guardian, the person appointed by a court or a state or federal administrative agency, a testamentary guardian, or a previously appointed de facto guardian.
History —Aug. 25, 2000, No. 194, § 2; Aug. 9, 2002, No. 148, § 1; Aug. 8, 2006, No. 150, § 1; Feb. 12, 2007, No. 9, § 1; Sept. 27, 2007, No. 127, § 1; Dec. 14, 2007, No. 210, § 1; Dec. 16, 2009, No. 176, § 1; Nov. 1, 2010, No. 161, § 1.