§ 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.