The Health Care Decisions Law, among other things, provides for an individual’s use of a request regarding resuscitative measures, which is a written document, signed by an individual with capacity or a legally recognized health care decisionmaker for the individual, and the individual’s physician, that directs a health care provider regarding resuscitative measures for the individual. The law excludes a health care provider who honors a request regarding resuscitative measures from criminal prosecution, civil liability, discipline for unprofessional conduct, administrative sanction, or any other sanction, as a result of his or her reliance on the request, if specific conditions are met. The law requires, if the orders in an individual’s request regarding resuscitative measures directly conflict with his or her individual health care instruction, as defined, to the extent of the conflict,
the most recent order or instruction to be effective.
This bill would modify the priority of documents to resolve a conflict to instead provide that the most recent order of the individual or instruction signed by the individual, as specified, would be effective.