Section 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.
    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.