By: Rodriguez S.B. No. 651
(In the Senate - Filed February 19, 2013; February 25, 2013,
read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
April 15, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 15, 2013,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 651 By: Rodriguez
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a medical power of attorney.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 166.163 and 166.164, Health and Safety
Code, are 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 begins when your doctor certifies that
you lack the competence to make health care decisions.
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:
(1) YOU SIGN IT AND HAVE YOUR SIGNATURE ACKNOWLEDGED
BEFORE A NOTARY PUBLIC; OR
(2) YOU SIGN 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.
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.
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. YOU MAY SIGN
IT AND HAVE YOUR SIGNATURE ACKNOWLEDGED BEFORE A NOTARY PUBLIC OR
YOU MAY SIGN IT IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO COMPETENT ADULT WITNESSES.)
SIGNATURE ACKNOWLEDGED BEFORE NOTARY
I sign my name to this medical power of attorney on __________
day of __________ (month, year) at
_____________________________________________
(City and State)
_____________________________________________
(Signature)
_____________________________________________
(Print Name)
State of Texas
County of ________
This instrument was acknowledged before me on __________ (date) by
________________ (name of person acknowledging).
_____________________________
NOTARY PUBLIC, State of Texas
Notary's printed name:
_____________________________
My commission expires:
_____________________________
OR
SIGNATURE IN PRESENCE OF TWO COMPETENT ADULT WITNESSES
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 2. Section 166.165, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection
(a-1) to read as follows:
(a) A person who is a near relative of the principal or a
responsible adult who is directly interested in the principal,
including a guardian, social worker, physician, or clergyman, may
bring an action [in district court] to request that the medical
power of attorney be revoked because the principal, at the time the
medical power of attorney was signed:
(1) was not competent; or
(2) was under duress, fraud, or undue influence.
(a-1) In a county in which there is no statutory probate
court, an action under this section shall be brought in the district
court. In a county in which there is a statutory probate court, the
statutory probate court and the district court have concurrent
jurisdiction over an action brought under this section.
(c) During the pendency of the action, the authority of the
agent to make health care decisions continues in effect unless the
[district] court orders otherwise.
SECTION 3. Not later than October 1, 2013, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
adopt the forms necessary to comply with the changes in law made by
this Act to Sections 166.163 and 166.164, Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act to Section
166.164, Health and Safety Code, does not affect the validity of a
document executed under that section before the effective date of
this section. A document executed before the effective date of this
section 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. The change in law made by this Act to Section
166.165, Health and Safety Code, applies to an action brought under
that section on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless
of whether the power of attorney was executed before, on, or after
the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 6. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
(b) Sections 1 and 4 of this Act take effect January 1, 2014.
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