Terms Used In Iowa Code > Chapter 144A - Life-Sustaining Procedures

• Adult: means an individual eighteen years of age or older. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Attending physician: means the physician selected by, or assigned to, the patient who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Attending physician assistant: means the physician assistant selected by, or assigned to, the patient who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Child: includes child by adoption. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Declaration: means a document executed in accordance with the requirements of section 144A. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Department: means the Iowa department of public health. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Emergency medical care provider: means emergency medical care provider as defined in section 147A. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• 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.
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
• 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 provider: means a person, including an emergency medical care provider, who is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by the law of this state to administer health care in the ordinary course of business or in the practice of a profession. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Hospital: means hospital as defined in section 135B. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• 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.
• Out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate order: means a written order signed by a physician, executed in accordance with the requirements of section 144A. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Person: means a natural person. See Iowa Code 154A.1
• Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery in this state. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Physician assistant: means a person licensed to practice as a physician assistant in this state. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Qualified patient: means a patient who has executed a declaration or an out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate order in accordance with this chapter and who has been determined by the attending physician to be in a terminal condition. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Resuscitation: means any medical intervention that utilizes mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a spontaneous vital function, including but not limited to chest compression, defibrillation, intubation, and emergency drugs intended to alter cardiac function or otherwise to sustain life. See Iowa Code 144A.2
• Signature: includes an electronic signature as defined in section 554D. See Iowa Code 4.1
• State: means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See Iowa Code 152E.3
• Terminal condition: means an incurable or irreversible condition that, without the administration of life-sustaining procedures, will, in the opinion of the attending physician, result in death within a relatively short period of time or a state of permanent unconsciousness from which, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, there can be no recovery. See Iowa Code 144A.2