235B.2 - DEFINITIONS.
235B.2 DEFINITIONS.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Caretaker" means a related or nonrelated person who has
the responsibility for the protection, care, or custody of a
dependent adult as a result of assuming the responsibility
voluntarily, by contract, through employment, or by order of the
court.
2. "Court" means the district court.
3. "Department" means the department of human services.
4. "Dependent adult" means a person eighteen years of age or
older who is unable to protect the person's own interests or unable
to adequately perform or obtain services necessary to meet essential
human needs, as a result of a physical or mental condition which
requires assistance from another, or as defined by departmental rule.
5. a. "Dependent adult abuse" means:
(1) Any of the following as a result of the willful or negligent
acts or omissions of a caretaker:
(a) Physical injury to, or injury which is at a variance with the
history given of the injury, or unreasonable confinement,
unreasonable punishment, or assault of a dependent adult.
(b) The commission of a sexual offense under chapter 709 or
section 726.2 with or against a dependent adult.
(c) Exploitation of a dependent adult which means the act or
process of taking unfair advantage of a dependent adult or the
adult's physical or financial resources for one's own personal or
pecuniary profit, without the informed consent of the dependent
adult, including theft, by the use of undue influence, harassment,
duress, deception, false representation, or false pretenses.
(d) The deprivation of the minimum food, shelter, clothing,
supervision, physical or mental health care, or other care necessary
to maintain a dependent adult's life or health.
(2) The deprivation of the minimum food, shelter, clothing,
supervision, physical or mental health care, and other care necessary
to maintain a dependent adult's life or health as a result of the
acts or omissions of the dependent adult.
(3) (a) Sexual exploitation of a dependent adult by a caretaker.
(b) "Sexual exploitation" means any consensual or
nonconsensual sexual conduct with a dependent adult which includes
but is not limited to kissing; touching of the clothed or unclothed
inner thigh, breast, groin, buttock, anus, pubes, or genitals; or a
sex act, as defined in section 702.17. "Sexual exploitation"
includes the transmission, display, taking of electronic images of
the unclothed breast, groin, buttock, anus, pubes, or genitals of a
dependent adult by a caretaker for a purpose not related to treatment
or diagnosis or as part of an ongoing assessment, evaluation, or
investigation. Sexual exploitation does not include touching which
is part of a necessary examination, treatment, or care by a caretaker
acting within the scope of the practice or employment of the
caretaker; the exchange of a brief touch or hug between the dependent
adult and a caretaker for the purpose of reassurance, comfort, or
casual friendship; or touching between spouses.
b. "Dependent adult abuse" does not include any of the
following:
(1) Circumstances in which the dependent adult declines medical
treatment if the dependent adult holds a belief or is an adherent of
a religion whose tenets and practices call for reliance on spiritual
means in place of reliance on medical treatment.
(2) Circumstances in which the dependent adult's caretaker,
acting in accordance with the dependent adult's stated or implied
consent, declines medical treatment if the dependent adult holds a
belief or is an adherent of a religion whose tenets and practices
call for reliance on spiritual means in place of reliance on medical
treatment.
(3) The withholding or withdrawing of health care from a
dependent adult who is terminally ill in the opinion of a licensed
physician, when the withholding or withdrawing of health care is done
at the request of the dependent adult or at the request of the
dependent adult's next of kin, attorney in fact, or guardian pursuant
to the applicable procedures under chapter 125, 144A, 144B, 222, 229,
or 633.
6. "Emergency shelter services" means and includes, but is
not limited to, secure crisis shelters or housing for victims of
dependent adult abuse.
7. "Family or household member" means a spouse, a person
cohabiting with the dependent adult, a parent, or a person related to
the dependent adult by consanguinity or affinity, but does not
include children of the dependent adult who are less than eighteen
years of age.
8. "Immediate danger to health or safety" means a situation
in which death or severe bodily injury could reasonably be expected
to occur without intervention.
9. "Individual employed as an outreach person" means a
natural person who, in the course of employment, makes regular
contacts with dependent adults regarding available community
resources.
10. "Legal holiday" means a legal public holiday as defined
in section 1C.1.
11. "Person" means person as defined in section 4.1.
12. "Recklessly" means that a person acts or fails to act
with respect to a material element of a public offense, when the
person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and
unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result
from the act or omission. The risk must be of such a nature and
degree that disregard of the risk constitutes a gross deviation from
the standard conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the
situation.
13. "Serious injury" means a disabling mental illness, or a
bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which
causes serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or
impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
14. "Support services" includes but is not limited to
community-based services including area agency on aging assistance,
mental health services, fiscal management, home health services,
housing-related services, counseling services, transportation
services, adult day services, respite services, legal services, and
advocacy services. Section History: Recent Form
87 Acts, ch 182, § 9; 88 Acts, ch 1238, § 3; 91 Acts, ch 231, § 2;
92 Acts, ch 1143, § 6, 7; 93 Acts, ch 76, §7; 95 Acts, ch 51, § 3; 96
Acts, ch 1130, § 2; 2001 Acts, ch 64, §7; 2006 Acts, ch 1030, §26;
2008 Acts, ch 1093, § 3; 2009 Acts, ch 107, § 1
Referred to in § 231B.10, 231D.5, 235B.3, 235B.16A, 692A.102,
726.8, 915.84