26:2H-104 Definitions relative to advance directives for mental health care.

3. As used in this act:

"Adult" means an individual who has reached majority pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1972, c.81 (C.9:17B-3).

"Advance directive for mental health care" or "advance directive" means a writing executed in accordance with the requirements of this act. An "advance directive" may include a proxy directive or an instruction directive, or both.

"Decision-making capacity" means a patient's ability to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of mental health care decisions, including the benefits and risks of each, and alternatives to any proposed mental health care, and to reach an informed decision. A patient's decision-making capacity is evaluated relative to the demands of a particular mental health care decision.

"Declarant" means an adult who has the mental capacity to execute an advance directive for mental health care and does so.

"Domestic partner" means a domestic partner as defined in section 3 of P.L.2003, c.246 (C.26:8A-3).

"Instruction directive" means a writing which provides instructions and direction regarding the declarant's wishes for mental health care in the event that the declarant subsequently lacks decision-making capacity.

"Mental health care decision" means a decision to accept or refuse any treatment, service, or procedure used to diagnose, treat, or care for a patient's mental condition. "Mental health care decision" also means a decision to accept or refuse the services of a particular mental health care professional or psychiatric facility, including a decision to accept or to refuse a transfer of care.

"Mental health care professional" means an individual licensed or certified by this State to provide or administer mental health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession.

"Mental health care representative" means the individual designated by a declarant pursuant to the proxy directive part of an advance directive for mental health care for the purpose of making mental health care decisions on the declarant's behalf, and includes an individual designated as an alternate mental health care representative who is acting as the declarant's mental health care representative in accordance with the terms and order of priority stated in an advance directive for mental health care.

"Patient" means an individual who is under the care of a mental health care professional.

"Proxy directive" means a writing which designates a mental health care representative in the event that the declarant subsequently lacks decision-making capacity.

"Psychiatric facility" means a State psychiatric facility listed in R.S.30:1-7, a county psychiatric hospital or the psychiatric unit of a county hospital, a short-term care facility, special psychiatric hospital or psychiatric unit of a general hospital or other health care facility licensed by the Department of Health pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), or a hospital or community-based mental health center or other entity licensed or funded by the Department of Human Services to provide community-based mental health services.

"Responsible mental health care professional" means a person licensed or certified by the State to provide or administer mental health care who is selected by, or assigned to, the patient and has primary responsibility for the care and treatment of the patient.

"State" means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

L.2005, c.233, s.3; amended 2012, c.17, s.248; 2013, c.103, s.69.