As used in sections 83-227.01, 83-227.02, 83-350, and 83-363 to 83-380, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Department means the Department of Health and Human Services;

(2) State institution means the state hospitals at Lincoln and Norfolk, the Beatrice State Developmental Center, and such other institutions as may hereafter be established by the Legislature for the care and treatment of persons with a mental disorder or persons with an intellectual disability;

(3) Relative means the spouse of a patient or, if the patient has no spouse and is under the age of majority at the time he or she is admitted, the parents of a patient in a state institution; and

(4) Parents means either or both of a patient's natural parents unless such patient has been legally adopted by other parents, in which case parents means either or both of the adoptive parents.