§ 2805-r. Patients unable to verbally communicate. 1. The department shall make regulations concerning the treatment of general hospital patients who are unable to verbally communicate, for whatever reason, with a health care practitioner or aide.

Terms Used In N.Y. Public Health Law 2805-R

  • 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.
  • Hospital: means a facility or institution engaged principally in providing services by or under the supervision of a physician or, in the case of a dental clinic or dental dispensary, of a dentist, or, in the case of a midwifery birth center, of a midwife, for the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of human disease, pain, injury, deformity or physical condition, including, but not limited to, a general hospital, public health center, diagnostic center, treatment center, a rural emergency hospital under 42 USC 1395x(kkk), or successor provisions, dental clinic, dental dispensary, rehabilitation center other than a facility used solely for vocational rehabilitation, nursing home, tuberculosis hospital, chronic disease hospital, maternity hospital, midwifery birth center, lying-in-asylum, out-patient department, out-patient lodge, dispensary and a laboratory or central service facility serving one or more such institutions, but the term hospital shall not include an institution, sanitarium or other facility engaged principally in providing services for the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of mental disability and which is subject to the powers of visitation, examination, inspection and investigation of the department of mental hygiene except for those distinct parts of such a facility which provide hospital service. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2801

2. Such regulations shall establish standards for a patient to have present during his or her period of admission a parent, guardian, representative or authorized helper to assist in the communication with health care personnel.

3. The standards established under this section shall be incorporated into the statement of rights and responsibilities adopted pursuant to paragraph (g) of subdivision one of section twenty-eight hundred three of this article.