Oklahoma § 63-3101.3 - Definitions

§ 63-3101.3. Definitions

As used in the Oklahoma Advance Directive Act:

1. "Advance directive for health care" means any writing

executed in accordance with the requirements of Section 3101.4 of

this title and may include a living will, the appointment of a

health care proxy, or both such living will and appointment of a

proxy;

2. "Attending physician" means the physician who has primary

responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient;

3. "Declarant" means any individual who has issued an advance

directive according to the procedure provided for in Section 3101.4

of this title;

4. “End-stage condition” means a condition caused by injury,

disease, or illness, which results in severe and permanent

deterioration indicated by incompetency and complete physical

dependency for which, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty,

treatment of the irreversible condition would be medically

ineffective;

5. "Health care provider" means a person who is licensed,

certified, or otherwise authorized by the law of this state to

administer health care in the ordinary course of business or

practice of a profession;

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 63. Public Health and Safety

6. "Health care proxy" is an individual eighteen (18) years old

or older appointed by the declarant as attorney-in-fact to make

health care decisions including, but not limited to, the provision,

withholding, or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment if a

qualified patient, in the opinion of the attending physician and

another physician, is persistently unconscious, incompetent, or

otherwise mentally or physically incapable of communication;

7. "Persistently unconscious" means an irreversible condition,

as determined by the attending physician and another physician, in

which thought and awareness of self and environment are absent;

8. "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust,

estate, trust, partnership, association, joint venture, government,

governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal or commercial

entity;

9. "Physician" means an individual licensed to practice

medicine in this state;

10. "Qualified patient" means a patient eighteen (18) years of

age or older who has executed an advance directive and who has been

determined to be incapable of making an informed decision regarding

health care, including the provision, withholding, or withdrawal of

life-sustaining treatment, by the attending physician and another

physician who have examined the patient;

11. "State" means a state, territory, or possession of the

United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of

Puerto Rico; and

12. "Terminal condition" means an incurable and irreversible

condition that, even with the administration of life-sustaining

treatment, will, in the opinion of the attending physician and

another physician, result in death within six (6) months.

Added by Laws 1992, c. 114, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1992. Amended by

Laws 2006, c. 171, § 5, emerg. eff. May 17, 2006.