KRS 311.621: Definitions for KRS 311.621 to 311.643.

As used in KRS 311.621 to 311.643:

(1) "Adult" means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older and who is of sound

mind;

(2) "Advance directive" means a living will directive made in accordance with KRS

311.621 to 311.643, a living will or designation o f health care surrogate executed

prior to July 15, 1994, and any other document that provides directions relative to

health care to be provided to the person executing the document;

(3) "Artificially-provided nutrition and hydration" means sustenance or fl uids that are

artificially or technologically administered;

(4) "Attending physician" means the physician who has primary responsibility for the

treatment and care of the patient;

(5) "Decisional capacity" means the ability to make and communicate a health care

decision;

(6) "Directive" means a living will directive in writing voluntarily made by an adult in

accordance with the provisions of KRS 311.621 to 311.643;

(7) "Grantor" means an adult who has executed an advance directive in accordance with

KRS 311.621 to 311.643;

(8) "Health care decision" means consenting to, or withdrawing consent for, any

medical procedure, treatment, or intervention;

(9) "Health care facility" means any institution, place, building, agency, or portion

thereof, public or private , whether organized for profit or not, used, operated, or

designed to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, nursing, rehabilitative, or

preventive care, and licensed pursuant to KRS Chapter 216B;

(10) "Health care provider" means any health care facility o r provider of health services,

including but not limited to, those licensed, certified, or regulated under the

provisions of KRS Chapters 211, 216, 311, 312, 313, or 314;

(11) "Life-prolonging treatment" means any medical procedure, treatment, or

intervention which:

(a) Utilizes mechanical or other artificial means to sustain, prolong, restore, or

supplant a spontaneous vital function; and

(b) When administered to a patient would serve only to prolong the dying process.

"Life-prolonging treatment" shall not include the administration of medication

or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to alleviate

pain;

(12) "Medical order for scope of treatment" means an actionable medical order signed by

a patient, a patient's legal surrogate, or a responsible party, and the patient's

physician directing the use of life -sustaining treatment for the patient. A medical

order for scope of tr eatment, if completed, shall implement or apply a health power

of attorney or a living will directive if one exists;

(13) "Permanently unconscious" means a condition which, to a reasonable degree of

medical probability, as determined solely by the patient' s attending physician and

one (1) other physician on clinical examination, is characterized by an absence of

cerebral cortical functions indicative of consciousness or behavioral interaction with

the environment;

(14) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of

Kentucky;

(15) "Responsible party" means an adult who has authority under KRS 311.631 to make

a health care decision for a patient who has not executed a living will directive;

(16) "Surrogate" means an adult who h as been designated to make health care decisions

in accordance with KRS 311.621 to 311.643; and

(17) "Terminal condition" means a condition caused by injury, disease, or illness which,

to a reasonable degree of medical probability, as determined solely by the patient's

attending physician and one (1) other physician, is incurable and irreversible and

will result in death within a relatively short time, and where the application of life -

prolonging treatment would serve only to artificially prolong the dying process.