|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the form of certain advance directives. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. 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 the form designated under Section 166.0325 |
|
or 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 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 166, Health and Safety |
|
Code, is amended by adding Section 166.0325 to read as follows: |
|
Sec. 166.0325. PERMISSIBLE FORMS OF ADVANCE DIRECTIVE; |
|
DESIGNATED ADVANCE DIRECTIVE. (a) A written directive may be in a |
|
form: |
|
(1) designated by the executive commissioner under |
|
Subsection (b); or |
|
(2) prescribed by Section 166.033. |
|
(b) The executive commissioner by rule shall designate a |
|
document to be recognized in this state as a written and validly |
|
executed advance directive. The document must: |
|
(1) be promulgated by a national nonprofit |
|
organization; |
|
(2) be written in plain language; |
|
(3) allow a declarant to provide a health care |
|
instruction; |
|
(4) require a declarant to name an agent who is at |
|
least 18 years of age to make health care decisions for the |
|
declarant when the declarant lacks the capacity to make the |
|
decisions; |
|
(5) allow a declarant to name an alternate agent who is |
|
at least 18 years of age to make health care decisions for the |
|
declarant if the agent is unable or unwilling to make the decisions; |
|
(6) allow the declarant to specify or limit the health |
|
care decisions an agent may make for the declarant; |
|
(7) allow the declarant to specify the health care |
|
treatments the declarant approves or does not approve; |
|
(8) allow the declarant to specify the personal, |
|
spiritual, and emotional care the declarant approves or does not |
|
approve; |
|
(9) allow the declarant to detail information the |
|
declarant wants conveyed to family members and friends, including |
|
the declarant's wishes for a memorial service or burial; |
|
(10) require the declarant to sign and date the |
|
advance directive in the presence of two witnesses who qualify |
|
under Section 166.003, at least one of whom qualifies under Section |
|
166.003(2); and |
|
(11) be accepted as a validly executed advance |
|
directive in at least 40 other states of the United States. |
|
(c) The commission shall post on the commission's Internet |
|
website a link to the document designated under Subsection (b). |
|
SECTION 3. Section 166.036(a), Health and Safety Code, is |
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
(a) Except as provided by Section 166.032(b-1), a written |
|
directive executed under Section 166.0325, 166.033, or 166.035 is |
|
effective without regard to whether the document has been |
|
notarized. |
|
SECTION 4. 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 the form designated under Section 166.0325 or |
|
prescribed by Section 166.033. |
|
SECTION 5. 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 be: |
|
(1) in a form prescribed by Section 166.164; or |
|
(2) a document designated by the executive |
|
commissioner under Section 166.0325, provided the document |
|
designates an agent and is executed in the manner required by |
|
Section 166.154. |
|
SECTION 6. Not later than December 1, 2019, the executive |
|
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall by |
|
rule designate a document as required by Section 166.0325, Health |
|
and Safety Code, as added by this Act. |
|
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |