KRS 209.020: Definitions for chapter.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Secretary" means the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services;

(2) "Cabinet" means the Cabinet for Health and Family Services;

(3) "Department" means the Department for Com munity Based Services of the Cabinet

for Health and Family Services;

(4) "Adult" means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older who, because of mental

or physical dysfunctioning, is unable to manage his or her own resources, carry out

the activity of d aily living, or protect himself or herself from neglect, exploitation,

or a hazardous or abusive situation without assistance from others, and who may be

in need of protective services;

(5) "Protective services" means agency services undertaken with or on behalf of an

adult in need of protective services who is being abused, neglected, or exploited.

These services may include but are not limited to conducting investigations of

complaints of possible abuse, neglect, or exploitation to ascertain whether or not the

situation and condition of the adult in need of protective services warrants further

action; social services aimed at preventing and remedying abuse, neglect, and

exploitation; and services directed toward seeking legal determination of whether or

not the adult in need of protective services has been abused, neglected, or exploited

and to ensure that he or she obtains suitable care in or out of his or her home;

(6) "Caretaker" means an individual or institution who has been entrusted with or who

has the responsibility for the care of the adult as a result of family relationship, or

who has assumed the responsibility for the care of the adult person voluntarily or by

contract, employment, legal duty, or agreement;

(7) "Deception" means but is not limited to:

(a) Creating or reinforcing a false impression, including a false impression as to

law, value, intention, or other state of mind;

(b) Preventing another from acquiring information that would affect his or her

judgment of a transaction; or

(c) Failing to correct a false impression that the deceiver previously created or

reinforced, or that the deceiver knows to be influencing another to whom the

person stands in a fiduciary or confidential relationship;

(8) "Abuse" means the infliction of injury, sexua l abuse, unreasonable confinement,

intimidation, or punishment that results in physical pain or injury, including mental

injury;

(9) "Exploitation" means obtaining or using another person's resources, including but

not limited to funds, assets, or property , by deception, intimidation, or similar

means, with the intent to deprive the person of those resources;

(10) "Investigation" shall include but is not limited to:

(a) A personal interview with the individual reported to be abused, neglected, or

exploited. When abuse or neglect is allegedly the cause of death, a coroner's or

doctor's report shall be examined as part of the investigation;

(b) An assessment of individual and environmental risk and safety factors;

(c) Identification of the perpetrator, if possible; and

(d) Identification by the Office of Inspector General of instances of failure by an

administrator or management personnel of a regulated or licensed facility to

adopt or enforce appropriate policies and procedures, if that failure

contributed to or caused an adult under the facility's care to be abused,

neglected, or exploited;

(11) "Emergency" means that an adult is living in conditions which present a substan tial

risk of death or immediate and serious physical harm to himself or herself or others;

(12) "Emergency protective services" are protective services furnished an adult in an

emergency;

(13) "Protective placement" means the transfer of an adult from his or her present living

arrangement to another;

(14) "Court" means the Circuit Court or the District Court if no judge of that Circuit

Court is present in the county;

(15) "Records" means the medical, mental, health, and financial records of the adult that

are in the possession of any hospital, firm, corporation, or other facility, if necessary

to complete the investigation mandated in this chapter. These records shall not be

disclosed for any purpose other than the purpose for which they have been obtained;

(16) "Neglect" means a situation in which an adult is unable to perform or obtain for

himself or herself the goods or services that are necessary to maintain his or her

health or welfare, or the deprivation of services by a caretaker that are necessary to

maintain the health and welfare of an adult; and

(17) "Authorized agency" means:

(a) The Cabinet for Health and Family Services;

(b) A law enforcement agency or the Department of Kentucky State Police;

(c) The office of a Commonwealth's attorney or county attorney; or

(d) The appropriate division of the Office of the Attorney General.