Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 68 > Safety > Chapter 140 - Emergency Services

• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a member, together with any amount transferred to the account of the member established pursuant to chapters 34-37 of this title from the respective account of the member under one (1) or more of the superseded systems, with interest thereon, as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equal value when computed at regular interest upon the basis of the mortality tables last adopted for such purpose by the board of trustees. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Ambulance: means any privately or publicly owned land or air vehicle that is especially designed, constructed or modified and equipped and is intended to be used for and is maintained or operated for transportation upon the streets, highways or airways in this state for persons who are sick, injured, wounded, otherwise incapacitated, helpless, or in need of medical care. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Ambulance service: means the principal use of any privately or publicly owned ambulance for the transportation of injured or infirm persons. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney general: means the attorney general and reporter and any assistant thereto by whatever name known, any district attorney general and any assistant thereto by whatever name called, and any officer or full-time employee of the general assembly or any committee thereof established by statute, who is duly licensed to practice law in Tennessee, whose duty it is to provide facilities for drafting bills or to assist individual legislators in drafting bills or who renders legal advice and services to the members of the general assembly or committees thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Authorization: means any and all forms of official permission required by this part, including licenses, permits and certificates. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Authorized entity: means an entity or organization at which allergens capable of causing anaphylaxis may be present, including, but not limited to, a recreation camp, college, university, place of worship, youth sports league, amusement park, restaurant, place of employment, and sports arena. See Tennessee Code 68-140-501
• Average final compensation: means the average annual earnable compensation of a member during the five (5) consecutive years of the member's creditable service affording the highest such average, or during all of the years in the member's creditable service if less than five (5) years. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Beneficiary: means any person, persons or institution receiving a retirement allowance or other benefit as provided in chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the Tennessee emergency medical services board. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Certificate: means official acknowledgment that an individual has successfully complied with all requirements to practice and has completed a training program accredited or recognized by the board. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of health, the commissioner's duly authorized representative, or in the event of the commissioner's absence or a vacancy in the office of commissioner, the deputy commissioner. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Commissioner: means any person in office as a member of the public service commission, as prescribed by title 65, chapter 1, prior to June 30, 1996. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of health. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Community paramedic: means an individual who:
  (A) Is licensed as a paramedic that delivers care in emergency and non-urgent pre-hospital settings with oversight of a physician. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Community paramedicine: means the practice by emergency medical services personnel, primarily in an out-of-hospital setting, that may include the provisions of such services as patient evaluation, advice, treatment directed at preventing or improving a particular medical condition, or referrals to other community resources, which may be provided occasionally or at irregular intervals. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County judge: means a judge of a general sessions court, probate judge, or judge of a juvenile and/or domestic relations court. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Covered compensation: means , with respect to any calendar year, the amount of a member's earnable compensation subject to contributions under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (26 U. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Creditable service: means prior service plus membership service, as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Declarant: means an individual who declares a living will under this chapter. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• defibrillator: means an automated external defibrillator. See Tennessee Code 68-140-402
• Defined benefit component: means the portion of the hybrid plan that provides a defined benefit plan within the retirement system, but which has its own vesting, benefit structure, and contribution requirements as set forth in this part. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Defined contribution component: means the portion of the hybrid plan that provides a defined contribution plan within the profit sharing and/or salary reduction plan established under chapter 25, part 3 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-140-501
• Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Director: means the director of the division of emergency medical services of the department. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Earnable compensation: includes , but is not limited to, any bonus or incentive payment. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• EMAC: means the national interstate mutual aid agreement adopted by all fifty (50) states, the District of Columbia, the United States Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and ratified by the 104th United States Congress in 1996 (PL-104-321) that enables states to share resources during times of disaster created during the 104th Congress. See Tennessee Code 68-140-603
• Emergency medical entity: means any singular facility, providing emergency medical services to the general public, either resident or transient, in this state. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Emergency medical services: means the services used in responding to the perceived individual need for immediate medical care in order to prevent loss of life or aggravation of physiological or psychological illness or injury. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Emergency medical services personnel: means individuals certified or licensed by the emergency medical services board in accordance with various categories and classifications of licenses or certificates that the board establishes. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Employer: means :
  (A) The state or any department, commission, institution, board or agency of the state government by which a member is paid, with respect to members in its employ. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Epinephrine auto-injector: means a single-use device used to administer by automatic injection a premeasured dose of epinephrine into the body of a person. See Tennessee Code 68-140-501
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health care prescriber: means a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who is licensed pursuant to title 63, chapter 6 or 9. See Tennessee Code 68-140-501
• health facility: means a person, facility or institution licensed or authorized to provide health or medical care. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Hybrid plan: means a plan that provides a combination of a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan which, together, are intended to comply with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Interfacility telecommunications: means the exchange of ideas, instruction, or intelligence, pertaining to emergency medical services, between two (2) or more emergency medical entities. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Internal Revenue Code: means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in United States Code, title 26, as amended. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Invalid vehicle: means any privately or publicly owned vehicle that is maintained, operated and intended to be used to transport persons who are convalescent, or otherwise nonambulatory, and do not require medical treatment while in transit. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means an authorization to a person to provide ambulance services. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Living will: means a written declaration, pursuant to this chapter, stating declarant's desires for medical care or noncare, including palliative care, and other related matters such as organ donation and body disposal. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• Medical care: includes any procedure or treatment rendered by a physician or health care provider designed to diagnose, assess or treat a disease, illness or injury. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• Medical direction: means the supervision by a physician licensed to practice in the state of Tennessee of all medical aspects of patient care within EMS. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Medical professional: means a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who is licensed to practice medicine or osteopathic medicine in this state or in any other state or territory of the United States. See Tennessee Code 68-140-501
• Member: means a member of the Tennessee emergency medical service board. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Member annuity: means annual payments for life derived from the accumulated contributions of the member. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Membership service: means service rendered while a member of the retirement system. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Mobile integrated health care: means the provision of health care using patient-centered, mobile resources in the out-of-hospital environment under local medical control as part of a community-based team of health and social services providers to include, but not be limited to, home health organizations and community paramedics. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Organ donation: means a procedure to recover vascular organs following a declaration of death pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Palliative care: includes any measure taken by a physician or health care provider designed primarily to maintain the patient's comfort. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• Part-time employee: includes any interim teacher who is employed on a temporary basis to teach for a regular teacher who is on unpaid leave. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Participant: means any state employee, teacher, or political subdivision employee participating in the hybrid plan. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Patient: means an individual who, as a result of physical or mental condition, needs medical attention. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Permit: means an authorization issued for an ambulance vehicle as meeting the standards adopted pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Person: means any individual, association, organization or any other business entity, either profit or nonprofit, any state or local governmental entity, and federal agencies to the extent permitted by federal law. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Physician: means any person licensed or permitted to practice medical care under title 63, chapters 6 and 9. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Political subdivision: means any entity authorized to participate in the retirement system pursuant to chapter 35, part 2 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Political subdivision employee: means any person in the employ of a political subdivision, including a county judge, but does not include any person performing services on a contractual or percentage basis. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Practice: means the exercise of principles and skills for effective emergency medical care under medical direction recognized as acts and responsibilities within the discipline of emergency medical services. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Prior class member: means a member who, on the day preceding the date of establishment, shall have been a member of a superseded system and who elects to remain covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the superseded system, or who fails to elect to become covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the retirement system applicable to new employees, as the case may be, in accordance with chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Prior service: means service rendered prior to the date of membership in the retirement system for which credit was given under the terms of one (1) or more of the superseded systems as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probate court: means the court having jurisdiction over the administration of the estates of decedents. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public school: means any school conducted within the state under the authority and supervision of a duly elected or appointed city or county school board, and any educational institution supported by and under the control of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Resource inventory: means the tabulation of all equipment capable of performing telecommunications actions within, from, or to an emergency medical entity. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement allowance: means the sum of the member annuity and the state annuity. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Reviewing authority for applications: means that individual, or designated representative, capable of determining the validity of a request to any higher agency for a required permit or license. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Run records: means ambulance run reports relative to a response by an ambulance service or invalid vehicle operator during which a patient is evaluated, treated or transported. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Service: means the provision of organized response by ambulances or emergency response vehicles, or the provision of emergency care on an organized basis. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• sex: means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State judge: has the meaning set forth in §. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Superseded system: means , where applicable, the Tennessee state retirement system, the Tennessee teachers' retirement system, the Tennessee judges' retirement system, the retirement system for county paid judges of Tennessee, the attorneys general retirement system of Tennessee, the public service commissioners' retirement system, and the Tennessee retirement system for county officials, any one (1) of them, or any combination thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Teacher: has the meaning set forth in §. See Tennessee Code 8-36-902
• Telecommunications: means those voice, data, and signaling transmissions and receptions between emergency medical service entities, including, but not limited to, ambulances, rescue vehicles, hospitals or other related emergency receiving facilities, emergency communications centers, physicians and emergency medical personnel, paging facilities, law enforcement agencies, fire control agencies, poison control centers, suicide prevention agencies, and disaster control centers. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Telecommunications resource coordination center: means that urban center of population within an emergency medical service area providing the facilities and manpower to maintain telecommunications contact, on a continuous basis, with other emergency medical entities within the emergency medical service area. See Tennessee Code 68-140-102
• Terminal condition: means any disease, illness, injury or condition, including, but not limited to, a coma or persistent vegetative state, sustained by any human being, from which there is no reasonable medical expectation of recovery and that, as a medical probability, will result in the death of the human being, regardless of the use or discontinuance of medical treatment implemented for the purpose of sustaining life, or the life processes. See Tennessee Code 32-11-103
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Volunteer personnel: means persons who provide emergency care without expectation of remuneration who do not receive payment for services rendered, and who do not depend on the provision of emergency care for their livelihood or a substantial portion of their livelihood. See Tennessee Code 68-140-302
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105