Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 8.01 > Chapter 8 > Article 3 - Who and Where to Serve Process.

• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Advance directive: means (i) a witnessed written document, voluntarily executed by the declarant in accordance with the requirements of § Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• Advanced practice registered nurse: means a certified nurse midwife, certified registered nurse anesthetist, clinical nurse specialist, or nurse practitioner who is jointly licensed by the Boards of Medicine and Nursing pursuant to § Virginia Code 54.1-2900
• Agent: means an adult appointed by the declarant under an advance directive, executed or made in accordance with the provisions of § Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• Attending physician: means the primary physician who has responsibility for the health care of the patient. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• Board: means the Board of Medicine. See Virginia Code 54.1-2900
• Capacity reviewer: means a licensed physician or clinical psychologist who is qualified by training or experience to assess whether a person is capable or incapable of making an informed decision. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Declarant: means an adult who makes an advance directive, as defined in this article, while capable of making and communicating an informed decision. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• Health care: means the furnishing of services to any individual for the purpose of preventing, alleviating, curing, or healing human illness, injury or physical disability, including but not limited to, medications; surgery; blood transfusions; chemotherapy; radiation therapy; admission to a hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility, or other health care facility; psychiatric or other mental health treatment; and life-prolonging procedures and palliative care. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Incapable of making an informed decision: means the inability of an adult patient, because of mental illness, intellectual disability, or any other mental or physical disorder that precludes communication or impairs judgment, to make an informed decision about providing, continuing, withholding or withdrawing a specific health care treatment or course of treatment because he is unable to understand the nature, extent or probable consequences of the proposed health care decision, or to make a rational evaluation of the risks and benefits of alternatives to that decision. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• 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.
• person: includes an individual, his executor, administrator, or other personal representative, or a corporation, partnership, association or any other legal or commercial entity, whether or not a citizen or domiciliary of the Commonwealth and whether or not organized under the laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 8.01-285
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Virginia or in the jurisdiction where the health care is to be rendered or withheld. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
• Physician assistant: means a health care professional who has met the requirements of the Board for licensure as a physician assistant. See Virginia Code 54.1-2900
• process: shall be deemed to include notice;

  2. See Virginia Code 8.01-285

• return: shall be deemed to include the term "proof of service";

  3. See Virginia Code 8.01-285

• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sheriff: shall include deputy sheriffs and such other persons designated in § Virginia Code 8.01-2
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.