By: Madla S.B. No. 497
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the certification of patients as terminally ill under
1-2 the Natural Death Act.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subdivision (8), Section 672.002, Health and
1-5 Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (8) "Qualified patient" means a patient with a
1-7 terminal condition that has been diagnosed and certified in writing
1-8 by the attending physician <and one other physician> who has <have>
1-9 personally examined the patient.
1-10 SECTION 2. Section 672.004, Health and Safety Code, is
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 Sec. 672.004. FORM OF WRITTEN DIRECTIVE. A written
1-13 directive may be in the following form:
1-14 "DIRECTIVE TO PHYSICIANS
1-15 "Directive made this __________ day of __________ (month,
1-16 year).
1-17 "I __________, being of sound mind, wilfully and voluntarily
1-18 make known my desire that my life shall not be artificially
1-19 prolonged under the circumstances set forth in this directive.
1-20 "1. If at any time I should have an incurable or
1-21 irreversible condition caused by injury, disease, or illness
1-22 certified to be a terminal condition by ___________(number)
1-23 physician(s) <two physicians>, and if the application of
2-1 life-sustaining procedures would serve only to artificially
2-2 postpone the moment of my death, and if my attending physician
2-3 determines that my death is imminent or will result within a
2-4 relatively short time without the application of life-sustaining
2-5 procedures, I direct that those procedures be withheld or
2-6 withdrawn, and that I be permitted to die naturally.
2-7 "2. In the absence of my ability to give directions
2-8 regarding the use of those life-sustaining procedures, it is my
2-9 intention that this directive be honored by my family and
2-10 physicians as the final expression of my legal right to refuse
2-11 medical or surgical treatment and accept the consequences from that
2-12 refusal.
2-13 "3. If I have been diagnosed as pregnant and that diagnosis
2-14 is known to my physician, this directive has no effect during my
2-15 pregnancy.
2-16 "4. This directive is in effect until it is revoked.
2-17 "5. I understand the full import of this directive and I am
2-18 emotionally and mentally competent to make this directive.
2-19 "6. I understand that I may revoke this directive at any
2-20 time.
2-21 "Signed ___________________________________
2-22 (City, County, and State of Residence)
2-23 I am not related to the declarant by blood or marriage. I
2-24 would not be entitled to any portion of the declarant's estate on
2-25 the declarant's death. I am not the attending physician of the
3-1 declarant or an employee of the attending physician. I am not a
3-2 patient in the health care facility in which the declarant is a
3-3 patient. I have no claim against any portion of the declarant's
3-4 estate on the declarant's death. Furthermore, if I am an employee
3-5 of a health facility in which the declarant is a patient, I am not
3-6 involved in providing direct patient care to the declarant and am
3-7 not directly involved in the financial affairs of the health
3-8 facility.
3-9 "Witness _________________________________
3-10 "Witness _________________________________"
3-11 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.