2021 New York Laws
PBH - Public Health
Article 29-C - 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 practitioner" means the physician, physician assistant,
  or nurse practitioner, licensed or certified pursuant to title eight  of
  the education law, selected by or assigned to a patient, who has primary
  responsibility  for  the  treatment  and care of the patient. Where more
  than one physician, physician assistant, or  nurse  practitioner  shares
  such responsibility, or where a physician, physician assistant, or nurse
  practitioner  is acting on the attending practitioner's behalf, any such
  physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant  may  act  as  the
  attending practitioner pursuant to this article.
2-a.  "Nurse  practitioner" means a nurse practitioner certified under
  section sixty-nine hundred ten of the education law,  practicing  within
  his or her scope of practice.
2-b.  "Psychiatric  nurse  practitioner"  means  a  nurse practitioner
  certified  by  the  department  of  education  as  a  psychiatric  nurse
  practitioner.
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 practitioner 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 practitioner.
10. "Mental hygiene facility" means a residential facility,  excluding
  family  care  homes, operated or licensed by the office of mental health
  or the office for people with 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 practitioner or  another
  person acting on behalf of the attending practitioner 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.