Terms Used In Louisiana Codes > Children's Code > Title XV > Chapter 7 - Protection of Terminally Ill Children

• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Attending physician: means the physician who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the child patient. See Louisiana Children's Code 1552
• 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}
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Child: means a person under eighteen years of age who has not been judicially emancipated under Civil Code Article 385 or emancipated by marriage under Civil Code Articles 379 through 384. See Louisiana Children's Code 1552
• Continual profound comatose state: means that there is no reasonable medical possibility of ever achieving a cognitive state of conscious perception. See Louisiana Children's Code 1552
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Death: means that in the announced opinion of a physician, based on ordinary standards of approved medical practice, the child has experienced an irreversible cessation of spontaneous respiratory and circulatory functions. See Louisiana Children's Code 1552
• Declaration: means a written and witnessed document voluntarily made by the declarant, authorizing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures for a child, in accordance with the requirements of this Chapter. See Louisiana Children's Code 1552
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Terminal and irreversible condition: means a condition, injury, disease, or illness which, within reasonable medical judgment, would produce death and for which the application of a life-support system would serve only to postpone the moment of death. See Louisiana Children's Code 1552
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.