Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 5 > Article 14A - West Virginia Interpreter for the Deaf Act

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appointing authority: means any court, department, board, commission, agency, licensing authority, political subdivision or municipality of the state required to provide an interpreter. See West Virginia Code 5-14A-2
• Approved program: means an educational program for physician assistants approved and accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant or its successor. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• 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}
• Board: means the West Virginia Board of Medicine established in section five of this article. See West Virginia Code 30-3-4
• Boards: means the West Virginia Board of Medicine and the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Collaborating physician: means a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatry fully licensed, by the appropriate board in this state, without restriction or limitation, who collaborates with physician assistants. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Collaboration: means overseeing the activities of the medical services rendered by a physician assistant. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
• Deaf person: means one whose sense of hearing is nonfunctional for the ordinary purposes of life. See West Virginia Code 5-14A-2
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Document: means any information, data, reports, or records prepared by or on behalf of a health care provider and includes mental impressions, analyses, and/or work product. See West Virginia Code 30-3C-1
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Endorsement: means a summer camp or volunteer endorsement authorized under this article. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Health care facility: means any licensed hospital, nursing home, extended care facility, state health or mental institution, clinic, or physician office. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Health care facility: means any clinic, hospital, pharmacy, nursing home, assisted living facility, residential care community, end-stage renal disease facility, home health agency, child welfare agency, group residential facility, behavioral health care facility or comprehensive community mental health center, intellectual/developmental disability center or program, or other ambulatory health care facility in and licensed, regulated, or certified by the State of West Virginia under state or federal law and any state-operated institution or clinic providing health care and any related entity to the health care facility as that term is defined in §. See West Virginia Code 30-3C-1
• Health care provider: means a person, partnership, corporation, professional limited liability company, health care facility, entity or institution licensed by, or certified in, this state or another state, to provide health care or professional health care services, including a physician, osteopathic physician, physician's assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, health care facility, dentist, registered or licensed practical nurse, optometrist, podiatrist, chiropractor, physical therapist, speech-language pathologist, audiologist, occupational therapist, psychologist, pharmacist, technician, certified nursing assistant, emergency medical services personnel, emergency medical services authority or agency, any person supervised by or acting under the direction of a licensed professional, any person taking actions or providing service or treatment pursuant to or in furtherance of a physician's plan of care, a health care facility's plan of care, medical diagnosis, or treatment. See West Virginia Code 30-3C-1
• Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Laws of the state: includes the Constitution of the State of West Virginia and the Constitution of the United States, and treaties and laws made in pursuance thereof. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means a license issued by either of the boards pursuant to the provisions of this article. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Licensee: means a person licensed pursuant to the provisions of this article. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Medical peer review committee: means a committee of, or appointed by, a state or local professional medical society, or a committee of, or appointed by, a medical staff of a licensed hospital, long-term care facility or other health care facility, or any health care peer review organization as defined in section one, article three-c of this chapter, or any other organization of professionals in this state formed pursuant to state or federal law and authorized to evaluate medical and health care services. See West Virginia Code 30-3-4
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• oath: shall be deemed to include an affirmation and the word "swear" or "sworn" to be complied with if the person referred to make solemn affirmation. See West Virginia Code 2-2-7
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oral interpreter: means a person who interprets language through facial and lip movements. See West Virginia Code 5-14A-2
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Peer review: means the procedure for evaluation by health care providers of the quality, delivery, and efficiency of services ordered or performed by other health care professionals, including practice analysis, inpatient hospital and extended care facility utilization review, medical audit, ambulatory care review, claims review and patient safety review, preparation for or simulation of audits or surveys of any kind, and all forms of quality assurance/performance improvement whether or not required by any statute, rule, or regulation applicable to a health care facility or health care provider. See West Virginia Code 30-3C-1
• Physician: means a doctor of allopathic or osteopathic medicine who is fully licensed pursuant to the provisions of either §. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Physician assistant: means a person who meets the qualifications set forth in this article and is licensed pursuant to this article to practice medicine with a collaborating physician. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Practice notification: means a written notice to the appropriate licensing board that a physician assistant will practice in collaboration with one or more collaborating physicians in the state of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
• Practice of medicine and surgery: means the diagnosis or treatment of, or operation or prescription for, any human disease, pain, injury, deformity or other physical or mental condition. See West Virginia Code 30-3-4
• Practice of podiatry: means the examination, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and care of conditions and functions of the human foot and ankle by medical, surgical and other scientific knowledge and methods. See West Virginia Code 30-3-4
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Qualified interpreter: means an interpreter certified by the national association of the deaf (NAD) or registry of interpreters for the deaf (RID), or, in the event an interpreter so certified is not available, an interpreter whose qualifications are otherwise determined. See West Virginia Code 5-14A-2
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Review organization: means any committee, organization, individual, or group of individuals engaging in peer review, including, without limitation, a hospital medical executive committee and/or subcommittee thereof, a hospital utilization review committee, a hospital tissue committee, a medical audit committee, a health insurance review committee, a health maintenance organization review committee, hospital, medical, dental, and health service corporation review committee, a hospital plan corporation review committee, a professional health service plan review committee or organization, a dental review committee, a physicians" advisory committee, a podiatry advisory committee, a nursing advisory committee, any committee or organization established pursuant to a medical assistance program, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations or similar accrediting body or any entity established by such accrediting body or to fulfill the requirements of such accrediting body, any entity established pursuant to state or federal law for peer review purposes, and any committee established by one or more state or local professional societies or institutes, to gather and review information relating to the care and treatment of patients for the purposes of: (i) Evaluating and improving the quality of health care rendered. See West Virginia Code 30-3C-1
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State health officer: means the commissioner for the Bureau for Public Health or his or her designee, which officer or designee shall be a physician and shall act as secretary of the board and shall carry out any and all responsibilities assigned in this article to the secretary of the board. See West Virginia Code 30-3-4
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Surgery: includes the use on humans of lasers, ionizing radiation, pulsed light and radiofrequency devices. See West Virginia Code 30-3-4
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.