Section 81.03. Definitions

When used in this article,
    (a) "guardian" means a person who is eighteen years of age or older, a
  corporation,  or a public agency, including a local department of social
  services, appointed in accordance with terms  of  this  article  by  the
  supreme  court,  the  surrogate's  court,  or the county court to act on
  behalf of an incapacitated person in providing for personal needs and/or
  for property management.
    (b) "functional level" means the ability to provide for personal needs
  and/or the ability with respect to property management.
    (c) "functional limitations" means behavior or conditions of a  person
  which  impair  the ability to provide for personal needs and/or property
  management.
    (d) "least restrictive form of intervention"  means  that  the  powers
  granted  by  the court to the guardian with respect to the incapacitated
  person represent only those powers which are necessary  to  provide  for
  that  person's  personal  needs and/or property management and which are
  consistent  with  affording  that  person   the   greatest   amount   of
  independence   and   self-determination   in   light  of  that  person's
  understanding and appreciation of the nature and consequences of his  or
  her functional limitations.
    (e) "available resources" means resources such as, but not limited to,
  visiting  nurses,  homemakers,  home  health  aides,  adult day care and
  multipurpose senior citizen centers, powers  of  attorney,  health  care
  proxies,  trusts,  representative and protective payees, and residential
  care facilities.
    (f) "personal needs" means needs such as, but not  limited  to,  food,
  clothing, shelter, health care, and safety.
    (g) "property  management" means taking actions to obtain, administer,
  protect, and dispose of real and personal property, intangible property,
  business property, benefits, and  income  and  to  deal  with  financial
  affairs.
    (h) "activities  of  daily  living"  means activities such as, but not
  limited   to,   mobility,   eating,   toileting,   dressing,   grooming,
  housekeeping,  cooking,  shopping, money management, banking, driving or
  using public transportation, and other activities  related  to  personal
  needs and to property management.
    (i) "major  medical  or dental treatment" means a medical, surgical or
  diagnostic intervention or procedure where a general anesthetic is  used
  or  which  involves  any significant risk or any significant invasion of
  bodily integrity requiring an incision or  producing  substantial  pain,
  discomfort,  debilitation,  or  having a significant recovery period, or
  which  involves  the  administration  of  psychotropic   medication   or
  electroconvulsive  therapy; it does not include any routine diagnosis or
  treatment  such  as  the  administration  of  medications   other   than
  chemotherapy   for   non-psychiatric  conditions  or  nutrition  or  the
  extraction of bodily fluids for analysis; dental care performed  with  a
  local  anesthetic; and any procedures which are provided under emergency
  circumstances, pursuant to section two thousand five hundred four of the
  public health law.
    (j) "life sustaining  treatment"  means  medical  treatment  which  is
  sustaining  life  functions  and  without which, according to reasonable
  medical judgment, the patient will die within a  relatively  short  time
  period.
    (k) "facility" means a facility, hospital, or school, or an alcoholism
  facility in this state as such terms are defined in section 1.03 of this
  chapter,  a  substance  abuse program as such term is defined in article
  nineteen of this chapter, an adult care facility as such term is defined

  in section two of the social services law, or a residential health  care
  facility  or a general hospital as such terms are defined in section two
  thousand eight hundred one of the public health law.
    (l)  "mental  hygiene facility" means a facility, hospital, or school,
  or an alcoholism facility in this state as such  terms  are  defined  in
  section 1.03 of this chapter.