<div class="yui-wk-div">The legalAuthenticator identifies the single person legally responsible for the document and must be present if the document has been legally authenticated. A clinical document that does not contain this element has not been legally authenticated.</div>
<div class="yui-wk-div">The act of legal authentication requires a certain privilege be granted to the legal authenticator depending upon local policy. Based on local practice, clinical documents may be released before legal authentication.</div>
<div class="yui-wk-div">All clinical documents have the potential for legal authentication, given the appropriate credentials.</div>
<div class="yui-wk-div">
<br clear="none"/>Local policies MAY choose to delegate the function of legal authentication to a device or system that generates the clinical document. In these cases, the legal authenticator is a person accepting responsibility for the document, not the generating device or system.</div>
<div class="yui-wk-div">Note that the legal authenticator, if present, must be a person.</div>