2014 Arkansas Code
Title 20 - Public Health And Welfare
Subtitle 2 - Health And Safety
Chapter 6 - General Provisions
Subchapter 1 - Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act
§ 20-6-102 - Definitions.

As used in this subchapter:

(1) "Advance directive" means an individual instruction or a written statement that anticipates and directs the provision of health care for an individual, including without limitation a living will or a durable power of attorney for health care;

(2) "Agent" means an individual designated in an advance directive for health care to make a healthcare decision for the individual granting the power;

(3) "Capacity" means an individual's ability to understand the significant benefits, risks, and alternatives to proposed health care and to make and communicate a healthcare decision;

(4) "Designated physician" means a physician designated by an individual or the individual's agent, guardian, or surrogate to have primary responsibility for the individual's health care or, in the absence of a designation or if the designated physician is not reasonably available, a physician who undertakes responsibility for the individual's health care;

(5) "Emergency responder" means a paid or volunteer firefighter, law enforcement officer, or other public safety official or volunteer acting within the scope of his or her proper function or rendering emergency care at the scene of an emergency;

(6) "Guardian" means a judicially appointed guardian or conservator having authority to make a healthcare decision for an individual;

(7) "Health care" means any care, treatment, service, or procedure to maintain, diagnose, treat, or otherwise affect an individual's physical or mental condition, including medical care;

(8) "Healthcare decision" means consent, refusal of consent, or withdrawal of consent to health care;

(9) "Healthcare institution" means an agency, institution, facility, or place, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, that provides health services and that is one (1) of the following:

(A) An ambulatory surgical treatment center;

(B) A birthing center;

(C) A home care organization;

(D) A hospital;

(E) An intellectual disability institutional habilitation facility;

(F) A mental health hospital;

(G) A nonresidential substitution-based treatment center for opiate addiction;

(H) A nursing home;

(I) An outpatient diagnostic center;

(J) A recuperation center;

(K) A rehabilitation facility; or

(L) A residential hospice;

(10) "Healthcare provider" means a person who is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of this state to administer health care in the ordinary course of the practice of his or her profession;

(11) "Individual instruction" means an individual's direction concerning a healthcare decision for the individual;

(12) "Medical care" means the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease for the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body;

(13) "Person" means an individual, corporation, estate, trust, partnership, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity;

(14) "Person authorized to consent on the principal's behalf" means:

(A) A person authorized by law to consent on behalf of the principal when the principal is incapable of making an informed decision; or

(B) In the case of a minor child, the parent or parents having custody of the child, the child's legal guardian, or another person as otherwise provided by law;

(15) "Personally inform" means to communicate by any effective means from the principal directly to a healthcare provider;

(16) "Physician" means an individual authorized to practice medicine or osteopathy in this state;

(17) "Power of attorney for health care" means the authority of an agent to make healthcare decisions for the individual granting the power;

(18) "Principal" means an individual who grants authority to an individual under this subchapter;

(19) "Qualified emergency medical service personnel" includes without limitation emergency medical technicians, paramedics, or other emergency services personnel, providers, or entities acting within the usual course of their professions, and other emergency responders;

(20) "Reasonably available" means readily able to be contacted without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner considering the urgency of the principal's healthcare needs, including without limitation availability by telephone;

(21) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

(22) "Supervising healthcare provider" means the designated physician or, if there is no designated physician or the designated physician is not reasonably available, the healthcare provider who has undertaken primary responsibility for an individual's health care;

(23) "Surrogate" means an individual, other than a principal's agent or guardian, authorized under this subchapter to make a healthcare decision for the principal;

(24) "Treating healthcare provider" means a healthcare provider who is directly or indirectly involved in providing health care to the principal; and

(25) "Universal Do Not Resuscitate Order" means a written order that applies regardless of the treatment setting and that is signed by the principal's physician that states that in the event the principal suffers cardiac or respiratory arrest, cardiopulmonary resuscitation should not be attempted.