Bill Text: TX HB936 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to certain advance directives.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2021-03-01 - Referred to Public Health [HB936 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB936-Introduced.html

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87R576 SCL-D
By: Raymond H.B. No. 936

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain advance directives.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 166, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Sections 166.012 and 166.013 to read as
follows:
Sec. 166.012. PRESUMPTION OF VALIDITY; LIMITATION OF
LIABILITY. (a) In the absence of actual knowledge to the contrary,
a physician, health care provider or residential care provider as
those terms are defined by Section 166.151, or person acting as an
agent for or under the physician's or provider's control may presume
that an advance directive is valid under this chapter and has been
validly executed by a person authorized to execute the advance
directive.
(b) The physician, health care provider, residential care
provider, or other person described by Subsection (a) is not
civilly or criminally liable or subject to review or disciplinary
action by the appropriate licensing authority for following an
advance directive or instructions of an advance directive that the
physician, provider, or person presumes is valid under this
chapter.
Sec. 166.013. DESIGNATED WRITTEN DIRECTIVE OR MEDICAL POWER
OF ATTORNEY. (a) The executive commissioner shall review and
designate documents meeting the requirements of this section to be
recognized in this state as a valid form for a written directive or
medical power of attorney.
(b) A document designated under this section must:
(1) be promulgated by a state or national nonprofit
organization or association;
(2) be written in plain language;
(3) include a field for:
(A) a declarant's name; and
(B) the date the document is executed;
(4) for a document to be used as a written directive,
allow a declarant to provide health care instructions;
(5) for a document to be used to appoint an agent under
a medical power of attorney:
(A) allow a declarant to appoint an agent;
(B) allow a declarant to specify or limit the
health care decisions an agent may make for the declarant;
(C) meet the requirements of Subchapter D other
than Section 166.164, including execution in accordance with
Section 166.154; and
(D) prohibit the appointment of two or more
agents with concurrent authority to make a health care decision on
behalf of the same declarant; and
(6) require the declarant to:
(A) sign and date the document in the presence of
two witnesses who qualify under Section 166.003, at least one of
whom qualifies under Section 166.003(2); or
(B) sign the document and have the signature
acknowledged before a notary public.
(c) On designating a document in accordance with this
section, the executive commissioner shall:
(1) place in a conspicuous manner on the first page of
the document the commission's logo or similar acknowledgment
evidencing the document is designated as a valid form of a written
directive or medical power of attorney; and
(2) post on the commission's Internet website a link to
the document.
(d) The commission shall post on the commission's Internet
website instructions for a state or national nonprofit organization
or association to submit a document to be considered under this
section. The executive commissioner shall complete a review of the
document not later than six months after the date the document is
submitted.
SECTION 2. Section 166.031(1), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(1) "Directive" means an instruction made under
Section 166.032, 166.034, or 166.035 to administer, withhold, or
withdraw life-sustaining treatment in the event of a terminal or
irreversible condition. The term includes an instruction made in a
document designated as a valid form of written directive under
Section 166.013 and executed as provided by this subchapter.
SECTION 3. Section 166.032(c), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) A declarant may include in a directive directions other
than those provided in a document designated as a valid form of
written directive under Section 166.013 or the form prescribed by
Section 166.033 and may designate in a directive a person to make a
health care or treatment decision for the declarant in the event the
declarant becomes incompetent or otherwise mentally or physically
incapable of communication.
SECTION 4. Subchapter B, Chapter 166, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Sections 166.0325 and 166.0335 to read as
follows:
Sec. 166.0325. PERMISSIBLE FORMS OF WRITTEN DIRECTIVE. A
written directive may be:
(1) in a document designated as a valid form of written
directive under Section 166.013;
(2) in a form that complies with Section 166.033; or
(3) in another form that satisfies the requirements of
this chapter.
Sec. 166.0335. DIRECTIONS RELATING TO CARE OTHER THAN
LIFE-SUSTAINING TREATMENT. (a) A declarant may include in a
written directive instructions regarding personal, spiritual, or
emotional care or additional care other than instructions to
administer, withhold, or withdraw life-sustaining treatment.
(b) The instructions of a written directive described by
Subsection (a) do not impose a duty, requirement, or obligation on a
physician, health care provider or residential care provider as
those terms are defined by Section 166.151, or person acting as an
agent for or under the physician's or provider's control to comply
with the instructions, but the physician, provider, or other person
may make reasonable accommodations for the instructions.
SECTION 5. Section 166.036(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Section 166.032(b-1) or
166.013(b)(6)(B), a written directive executed under Section
166.032 [166.033] or 166.035 is effective without regard to whether
the document has been notarized.
SECTION 6. Section 166.102(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) When responding to a call for assistance, emergency
medical services personnel:
(1) shall honor only a properly executed or issued
out-of-hospital DNR order or prescribed DNR identification device
in accordance with this subchapter; and
(2) have no duty to review, examine, interpret, or
honor a person's other written directive, including a written
directive in a document designated under Section 166.013 or the
form prescribed by Section 166.033.
SECTION 7. Subchapter D, Chapter 166, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 166.163 to read as follows:
Sec. 166.163. PERMISSIBLE FORMS OF MEDICAL POWER OF
ATTORNEY. Notwithstanding Section 166.164, a medical power of
attorney may only be in a form:
(1) designated by the executive commissioner as a
valid form for a medical power of attorney under Section 166.013; or
(2) substantially in compliance with the form
prescribed by Section 166.164.
SECTION 8. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission shall develop and post on the commission's
Internet website instructions for a state or national nonprofit
organization or association to submit to the commission a document
for consideration as a valid form for a written directive or medical
power of attorney under Section 166.013, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.