2010 New York Code
PBH - Public Health
Article 29-C - (2980 - 2994) HEALTH CARE AGENTS AND PROXIES
2980 - Definitions.

§  2980.  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
  is the parent of a child, or has married.
    2.  "Attending physician" means the physician, selected by or assigned
  to a patient, who has primary responsibility for the treatment and  care
  of   the   patient.   Where   more   than   one  physician  shares  such
  responsibility,  or  where  a  physician  is  acting  on  the  attending
  physician's  behalf,  any  such  physician  may  act  as  the  attending
  physician pursuant to this article.
    3. "Capacity to make health  care  decisions"  means  the  ability  to
  understand  and  appreciate  the  nature and consequences of health care
  decisions, including the benefits and risks of and alternatives  to  any
  proposed health care, and to reach an informed decision.
    4. "Health care" means any treatment, service or procedure to diagnose
  or treat an individual's physical or mental condition.
    5.  "Health care agent" or "agent" means an adult to whom authority to
  make health care decisions is delegated under a health care proxy.
    6. "Health care decision" means any decision to consent or  refuse  to
  consent to health care.
    7.  "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.
    8.  "Health  care  proxy" means a document delegating the authority to
  make health care decisions, executed in accordance with the requirements
  of this article.
    9. "Hospital" means a general hospital as defined in  subdivision  ten
  of  section  two  thousand  eight  hundred  one  of  this  chapter and a
  residential health care facility as  defined  in  subdivision  three  of
  section  two  thousand  eight  hundred one of this chapter, and a mental
  hygiene facility as defined in subdivision ten of  this  section  and  a
  hospice  as  defined  in subdivision one of section four thousand two of
  this chapter.
    9-a.  "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  purposes  of  this  article,  cardiopulmonary
  resuscitation is presumed to be a life sustaining treatment without  the
  necessity of a determination by an attending physician.
    10.  "Mental hygiene facility" means a residential facility, excluding
  family care homes, operated or licensed by the office of  mental  health
  or the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
    11.  "Mental illness" means a mental illness as defined in subdivision
  twenty of section 1.03 of the mental  hygiene  law,  provided,  however,
  that  mental  illness  shall  not  include dementia, such as alzheimer's
  disease or other disorders related to dementia.
    12. "Principal" means a person who has executed a health care proxy.
    13. "Reasonably available" means that a person to be contacted can  be
  contacted  with  diligent  efforts  by an attending physician or another
  person acting on behalf of the attending physician or the hospital.
    14. "Residential health care facility" means a residential health care
  facility as defined in subdivision three of section two  thousand  eight
  hundred one of this chapter.
    15.  "Qualified psychiatrist" means, for the purposes of this article,
  a physician licensed to practice medicine in New York state who: (a)  is
  a  diplomate  of  the  American  Board of Psychiatry and Neurology or is
  eligible to be certified by that board;  or  (b)  is  certified  by  the

American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry or is eligible to
  be certified by that board.