75R9773 MCK-D
By Reyna of Bexar H.B. No. 880
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 880:
By Coleman C.S.H.B. No. 880
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the witnessing provisions of the Natural Death Act.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 672.003(c), Health and Safety Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (c) A witness may not be:
1-7 (1) a person designated by the declarant to make a
1-8 treatment decision;
1-9 (2) a person related to the declarant by blood or
1-10 marriage;
1-11 (3) a person [(2)] entitled to any part of the
1-12 declarant's estate after the declarant's death under a will or
1-13 codicil executed by the declarant or by operation of law;
1-14 (4) [(3)] the attending physician;
1-15 (5) [(4)] an employee of the attending physician;
1-16 (6) [(5)] an employee of a health care facility in
1-17 which the declarant is a patient if the employee is providing
1-18 direct patient care to the declarant or is an officer, director,
1-19 partner, or business office employee of the health care facility or
1-20 of any parent organization of the health care facility [is directly
1-21 involved in the financial affairs of the facility];
1-22 [(6) a patient in a health care facility in which the
1-23 declarant is a patient;] or
1-24 (7) a person who, at the time the written directive is
2-1 executed or if the directive is a nonwritten directive issued under
2-2 Section 672.005, at the time the nonwritten directive is issued,
2-3 has a claim against any part of the declarant's estate after the
2-4 declarant's death.
2-5 SECTION 2. Section 672.004, Health and Safety Code, is
2-6 amended to read as follows:
2-7 Sec. 672.004. FORM OF WRITTEN DIRECTIVE. A written
2-8 directive may be in the following form:
2-9 "DIRECTIVE TO PHYSICIANS
2-10 "Directive made this __________ day of __________ (month,
2-11 year).
2-12 "I __________, being of sound mind, wilfully and voluntarily
2-13 make known my desire that my life shall not be artificially
2-14 prolonged under the circumstances set forth in this directive.
2-15 "1. If at any time I should have an incurable or
2-16 irreversible condition caused by injury, disease, or illness
2-17 certified to be a terminal condition by two physicians, and if the
2-18 application of life-sustaining procedures would serve only to
2-19 artificially postpone the moment of my death, and if my attending
2-20 physician determines that my death is imminent or will result
2-21 within a relatively short time without the application of
2-22 life-sustaining procedures, I direct that those procedures be
2-23 withheld or withdrawn, and that I be permitted to die naturally.
2-24 "2. In the absence of my ability to give directions
2-25 regarding the use of those life-sustaining procedures, it is my
2-26 intention that this directive be honored by my family and
2-27 physicians as the final expression of my legal right to refuse
3-1 medical or surgical treatment and accept the consequences from that
3-2 refusal.
3-3 "3. If I have been diagnosed as pregnant and that diagnosis
3-4 is known to my physician, this directive has no effect during my
3-5 pregnancy.
3-6 "4. This directive is in effect until it is revoked.
3-7 "5. I understand the full import of this directive and I am
3-8 emotionally and mentally competent to make this directive.
3-9 "6. I understand that I may revoke this directive at any
3-10 time.
3-11 "Signed ___
3-12 (City, County, and State of Residence)
3-13 I am not a person designated by the declarant to make a
3-14 treatment decision. I am not related to the declarant by blood or
3-15 marriage. I would not be entitled to any portion of the
3-16 declarant's estate on the declarant's death. I am not the
3-17 attending physician of the declarant or an employee of the
3-18 attending physician. [I am not a patient in the health care
3-19 facility in which the declarant is a patient.] I have no claim
3-20 against any portion of the declarant's estate on the declarant's
3-21 death. Furthermore, if I am an employee of a health care facility
3-22 in which the declarant is a patient, I am not involved in providing
3-23 direct patient care to the declarant and am not an officer,
3-24 director, partner, or business office employee of the health care
3-25 facility or of any parent organization of the health care facility
3-26 [directly involved in the financial affairs of the health
3-27 facility].
4-1 "Witness ___
4-2 "Witness ___"
4-3 SECTION 3. Section 672.009(d), Health and Safety Code, is
4-4 amended to read as follows:
4-5 (d) A treatment decision made under Subsection (b) must be
4-6 documented in the patient's medical record and signed by the
4-7 attending physician [made in the presence of at least two witnesses
4-8 who possess the same qualifications as are required by Section
4-9 672.003(c)].
4-10 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect January 1, 1998, and
4-11 applies to a directive executed on or after that date. A directive
4-12 executed before January 1, 1998, is governed by the law in effect
4-13 when the directive was executed, and the former law is continued in
4-14 effect for that purpose.
4-15 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.