Revision: Dec. 14, 2011, midnight
HB 1216 – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
01/05
HOUSE BILL 1216
AN ACT relative to the authority for withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.
SPONSORS: Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Ingbretson, Graf 5
This bill clarifies the protocol of the facility regarding authority for withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment from a mentally incompetent or developmentally disabled person.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12-2028
01/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT relative to the authority for withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Statement of Intent. The intent of this act is to restore protection of the disabled supporting Part 1, Article 2 of the New Hampshire Constitution and the New Hampshire Republican Party Platform, Article VIII.
2 Advance Directives; Withholding or Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment. Amend RSA 137-J:10, IV(b) to read as follows:
(b) The withholding or withdrawing of medically administered nutrition and hydration or life-sustaining treatment from a mentally incompetent or developmentally disabled person, unless such person has a validly executed advance directive [or such action is authorized by an existing guardianship or other court order, or such action is taken in accordance with the facility’s standard protocol as applicable to its general patient population] unless such treatment, nutrition, or hydration would be physically harmful or would hasten death.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2013.