154.01 Definitions. In this chapter:

(1) “Attending physician" means a physician licensed under ch. 448 who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient.

(2g) “Department" means the department of health services.

(3) “Health care professional" means a person licensed, certified or registered under ch. 441, 448 or 455.

(4) “Inpatient health care facility" has the meaning provided under s. 50.135 (1) and includes community-based residential facilities, as defined in s. 50.01 (1g).

(5) “Life-sustaining procedure" means any medical procedure or intervention that, in the judgment of the attending physician, would serve only to prolong the dying process but not avert death when applied to a qualified patient. “Life-sustaining procedure" includes assistance in respiration, artificial maintenance of blood pressure and heart rate, blood transfusion, kidney dialysis and other similar procedures, but does not include:

(a) The alleviation of pain by administering medication or by performing any medical procedure.

(b) The provision of nutrition or hydration.

(5m) “Persistent vegetative state" means a condition that reasonable medical judgment finds constitutes complete and irreversible loss of all of the functions of the cerebral cortex and results in a complete, chronic and irreversible cessation of all cognitive functioning and consciousness and a complete lack of behavioral responses that indicate cognitive functioning, although autonomic functions continue.

(8) “Terminal condition" means an incurable condition caused by injury or illness that reasonable medical judgment finds would cause death imminently, so that the application of life-sustaining procedures serves only to postpone the moment of death.

History: 1983 a. 202; 1985 a. 199; 1987 a. 161 s. 13m; 1991 a. 84; 1993 a. 27; 1995 a. 27 s. 9126 (19); 1995 a. 168, 200; 2007 a. 20 s. 9121 (6) (a).