80R4809 YDB-D

By: Nelson S.B. No. 590

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a designated agent's access to a principal's hospital records on admission to the hospital.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 166.163, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 166.163. FORM OF DISCLOSURE STATEMENT. The disclosure statement must be in substantially the following form:

INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT LEGAL DOCUMENT. BEFORE SIGNING THIS DOCUMENT, YOU SHOULD KNOW THESE IMPORTANT FACTS:

Except to the extent you state otherwise, this document gives the person you name as your agent the authority to make any and all health care decisions for you in accordance with your wishes, including your religious and moral beliefs, when you are no longer capable of making them yourself. Because "health care" means any treatment, service, or procedure to maintain, diagnose, or treat your physical or mental condition, your agent has the power to make a broad range of health care decisions for you. Your agent may consent, refuse to consent, or withdraw consent to medical treatment and may make decisions about withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment. Your agent may not consent to voluntary inpatient mental health services, convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, or abortion. A physician must comply with your agent's instructions or allow you to be transferred to another physician.

Your agent's authority under this medical power of attorney begins when your doctor certifies that you lack the competence to make health care decisions. After you sign this document and before your doctor certifies that you lack the competence to make health care decisions, the person you designate as your agent does have the additional authority on your admission to a hospital to access your hospital records for that admission and to access any of your records at the hospital related to the condition or treatment for which you were admitted. You may limit that additional authority in this document.

Your agent is obligated to follow your instructions when making decisions on your behalf. Unless you state otherwise, your agent has the same authority to make decisions about your health care as you would have had.

It is important that you discuss this document with your physician or other health care provider before you sign it to make sure that you understand the nature and range of decisions that may be made on your behalf. If you do not have a physician, you should talk with someone else who is knowledgeable about these issues and can answer your questions. You do not need a lawyer's assistance to complete this document, but if there is anything in this document that you do not understand, you should ask a lawyer to explain it to you.

The person you appoint as agent should be someone you know and trust. The person must be 18 years of age or older or a person under 18 years of age who has had the disabilities of minority removed. If you appoint your health or residential care provider (e.g., your physician or an employee of a home health agency, hospital, nursing home, or residential care home, other than a relative), that person has to choose between acting as your agent or as your health or residential care provider; the law does not permit a person to do both at the same time.

You should inform the person you appoint that you want the person to be your health care agent. You should discuss this document with your agent and your physician and give each a signed copy. You should indicate on the document itself the people and institutions who have signed copies. Your agent is not liable for health care decisions made in good faith on your behalf.

Even after you have signed this document, you have the right to make health care decisions for yourself as long as you are able to do so and treatment cannot be given to you or stopped over your objection. You have the right to revoke the authority granted to your agent by informing your agent or your health or residential care provider orally or in writing or by your execution of a subsequent medical power of attorney. Unless you state otherwise, your appointment of a spouse dissolves on divorce.

This document may not be changed or modified. If you want to make changes in the document, you must make an entirely new one.

You may wish to designate an alternate agent in the event that your agent is unwilling, unable, or ineligible to act as your agent. Any alternate agent you designate has the same authority to make health care decisions for you.

THIS POWER OF ATTORNEY IS NOT VALID UNLESS IT IS SIGNED IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO COMPETENT ADULT WITNESSES. THE FOLLOWING PERSONS MAY NOT ACT AS ONE OF THE WITNESSES:

(1) the person you have designated as your agent;

(2) a person related to you by blood or marriage;

(3) a person entitled to any part of your estate after your death under a will or codicil executed by you or by operation of law;

(4) your attending physician;

(5) an employee of your attending physician;

(6) an employee of a health care facility in which you are a patient if the employee is providing direct patient care to you or is an officer, director, partner, or business office employee of the health care facility or of any parent organization of the health care facility; or

(7) a person who, at the time this power of attorney is executed, has a claim against any part of your estate after your death.

SECTION 2. Section 166.164, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 166.164. FORM OF MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY. The medical power of attorney must be in substantially the following form:

MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY DESIGNATION OF HEALTH CARE AGENT.

I, __________(insert your name) appoint: Name:___________________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________________ Phone: as my agent to make any and all health care decisions for me, except to the extent I state otherwise in this document. This medical power of attorney takes effect if I become unable to make my own health care decisions and this fact is certified in writing by my physician. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY OF AGENT

After I execute this document and before my physician certifies that I am unable to make my own health care decisions, I authorize a hospital on my admission to the hospital to release to the person designated as my agent a copy of my hospital records for that admission and a copy of any records at the hospital related to the condition or treatment for which I was admitted. The authority granted by this paragraph begins on execution of this document.

LIMITATIONS ON THE [DECISION-MAKING] AUTHORITY OF MY AGENT ARE AS FOLLOWS:

DESIGNATION OF ALTERNATE AGENT.

(You are not required to designate an alternate agent but you may do so. An alternate agent may make the same health care decisions as the designated agent if the designated agent is unable or unwilling to act as your agent. If the agent designated is your spouse, the designation is automatically revoked by law if your marriage is dissolved.)

If the person designated as my agent is unable or unwilling to make health care decisions for me, I designate the following persons to serve as my agent to make health care decisions for me as authorized by this document, who serve in the following order:

A. First Alternate Agent

Name:_____________________________________________

Address:__________________________________________

Phone:

B. Second Alternate Agent

Name:_____________________________________________

Address:__________________________________________

Phone:

The original of this document is kept at:

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

The following individuals or institutions have signed copies:

Name:_____________________________________________

Address:__________________________________________

__________________________________________________

Name:_____________________________________________

Address:__________________________________________

__________________________________________________

DURATION.

I understand that this power of attorney exists indefinitely from the date I execute this document unless I establish a shorter time or revoke the power of attorney. If I am unable to make health care decisions for myself when this power of attorney expires, the authority I have granted my agent continues to exist until the time I become able to make health care decisions for myself.

(IF APPLICABLE) This power of attorney ends on the following date: __________

PRIOR DESIGNATIONS REVOKED.

I revoke any prior medical power of attorney.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DISCLOSURE STATEMENT.

I have been provided with a disclosure statement explaining the effect of this document. I have read and understand that information contained in the disclosure statement.

(YOU MUST DATE AND SIGN THIS POWER OF ATTORNEY.)

I sign my name to this medical power of attorney on __________ day of __________ (month, year) at

_____________________________________________

(City and State)

_____________________________________________

(Signature)

_____________________________________________

(Print Name)

STATEMENT OF FIRST WITNESS.

I am not the person appointed as agent by this document. I am not related to the principal by blood or marriage. I would not be entitled to any portion of the principal's estate on the principal's death. I am not the attending physician of the principal or an employee of the attending physician. I have no claim against any portion of the principal's estate on the principal's death. Furthermore, if I am an employee of a health care facility in which the principal is a patient, I am not involved in providing direct patient care to the principal and am not an officer, director, partner, or business office employee of the health care facility or of any parent organization of the health care facility.

Signature:________________________________________________

Print Name:___________________________________ Date:______

Address:__________________________________________________

SIGNATURE OF SECOND WITNESS.

Signature:________________________________________________

Print Name:___________________________________ Date:______

Address:__________________________________________________

SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 166, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 166.1571 to read as follows:

Sec. 166.1571. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY TO RELEASE HOSPITAL RECORDS TO DESIGNATED AGENT. (a) This section applies only to a principal who has not yet been certified as incompetent as described by Section 166.152(b) and who has authorized release of hospital records as described by Subsection (b) in the principal's medical power of attorney.

(b) On request of the person designated as agent under the medical power of attorney and following admission of the principal to a hospital, the hospital shall release to the person designated as agent the hospital records of the principal for that admission and any records at the hospital related to the condition or treatment for which the principal was admitted.

SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act does not affect the validity of a document executed under Subchapter D, Chapter 166, Health and Safety Code, before the effective date of this Act. A document executed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the document was executed, and that law continues in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.