1-1 By: Reyna of Bexar (Senate Sponsor - Luna) H.B. No. 880
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 11, 1997;
1-3 April 14, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; April 29, 1997, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 29, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the witnessing provisions of the Natural Death Act.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 672.003(c), Health and Safety Code, is
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 (c) A witness may not be:
1-13 (1) a person designated by the declarant to make a
1-14 treatment decision;
1-15 (2) a person related to the declarant by blood or
1-16 marriage;
1-17 (3) a person [(2)] entitled to any part of the
1-18 declarant's estate after the declarant's death under a will or
1-19 codicil executed by the declarant or by operation of law;
1-20 (4) [(3)] the attending physician;
1-21 (5) [(4)] an employee of the attending physician;
1-22 (6) [(5)] an employee of a health care facility in
1-23 which the declarant is a patient if the employee is providing
1-24 direct patient care to the declarant or is an officer, director,
1-25 partner, or business office employee of the health care facility or
1-26 of any parent organization of the health care facility [is directly
1-27 involved in the financial affairs of the facility];
1-28 [(6) a patient in a health care facility in which the
1-29 declarant is a patient;] or
1-30 (7) a person who, at the time the written directive is
1-31 executed or if the directive is a nonwritten directive issued under
1-32 Section 672.005, at the time the nonwritten directive is issued,
1-33 has a claim against any part of the declarant's estate after the
1-34 declarant's death.
1-35 SECTION 2. Section 672.004, Health and Safety Code, is
1-36 amended to read as follows:
1-37 Sec. 672.004. FORM OF WRITTEN DIRECTIVE. A written
1-38 directive may be in the following form:
1-39 "DIRECTIVE TO PHYSICIANS
1-40 "Directive made this __________ day of __________ (month,
1-41 year).
1-42 "I __________, being of sound mind, wilfully and voluntarily
1-43 make known my desire that my life shall not be artificially
1-44 prolonged under the circumstances set forth in this directive.
1-45 "1. If at any time I should have an incurable or
1-46 irreversible condition caused by injury, disease, or illness
1-47 certified to be a terminal condition by two physicians, and if the
1-48 application of life-sustaining procedures would serve only to
1-49 artificially postpone the moment of my death, and if my attending
1-50 physician determines that my death is imminent or will result
1-51 within a relatively short time without the application of
1-52 life-sustaining procedures, I direct that those procedures be
1-53 withheld or withdrawn, and that I be permitted to die naturally.
1-54 "2. In the absence of my ability to give directions
1-55 regarding the use of those life-sustaining procedures, it is my
1-56 intention that this directive be honored by my family and
1-57 physicians as the final expression of my legal right to refuse
1-58 medical or surgical treatment and accept the consequences from that
1-59 refusal.
1-60 "3. If I have been diagnosed as pregnant and that diagnosis
1-61 is known to my physician, this directive has no effect during my
1-62 pregnancy.
1-63 "4. This directive is in effect until it is revoked.
1-64 "5. I understand the full import of this directive and I am
2-1 emotionally and mentally competent to make this directive.
2-2 "6. I understand that I may revoke this directive at any
2-3 time.
2-4 "Signed ___
2-5 (City, County, and State of Residence)
2-6 I am not a person designated by the declarant to make a
2-7 treatment decision. I am not related to the declarant by blood or
2-8 marriage. I would not be entitled to any portion of the
2-9 declarant's estate on the declarant's death. I am not the
2-10 attending physician of the declarant or an employee of the
2-11 attending physician. [I am not a patient in the health care
2-12 facility in which the declarant is a patient.] I have no claim
2-13 against any portion of the declarant's estate on the declarant's
2-14 death. Furthermore, if I am an employee of a health care facility
2-15 in which the declarant is a patient, I am not involved in providing
2-16 direct patient care to the declarant and am not an officer,
2-17 director, partner, or business office employee of the health care
2-18 facility or of any parent organization of the health care facility
2-19 [directly involved in the financial affairs of the health
2-20 facility].
2-21 "Witness ___
2-22 "Witness ___"
2-23 SECTION 3. Sections 672.009(d) and (e), Health and Safety
2-24 Code, are amended to read as follows:
2-25 (d) A treatment decision made under Subsection (b) must be
2-26 documented in the patient's medical record and signed by the
2-27 attending physician [made in the presence of at least two witnesses
2-28 who possess the same qualifications as are required by Section
2-29 672.003(c)].
2-30 (e) If the patient does not have a legal guardian and a
2-31 person listed in Subsection (b) is not available, a treatment
2-32 decision made under Subsection (b) must be witnessed by another
2-33 physician who is not involved in the treatment of the patient.
2-34 (f) [(e)] The fact that an adult qualified patient has not
2-35 executed or issued a directive does not create a presumption that
2-36 the patient does not want a treatment decision to be made to
2-37 withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures.
2-38 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect January 1, 1998, and
2-39 applies to a directive executed on or after that date. A directive
2-40 executed before January 1, 1998, is governed by the law in effect
2-41 when the directive was executed, and the former law is continued in
2-42 effect for that purpose.
2-43 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-44 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-45 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-46 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-47 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-48 * * * * *