89R7825 MPF-D
By: Hull H.B. No. 2072
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to advance directives and health care and treatment
decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment;
creating a criminal offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 74.251(a), Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding any other law and subject to Subsection
(b) and Section 74.252, no health care liability claim may be
commenced unless the action is filed within two years from the
occurrence of the breach or tort or from the date the medical or
health care treatment that is the subject of the claim or the
hospitalization for which the claim is made is completed; provided
that, minors under the age of 12 years shall have until their 14th
birthday in which to file, or have filed on their behalf, the claim.
Except as herein provided this section applies to all persons
regardless of minority or other legal disability.
SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 74, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 74.252 to read as
follows:
Sec. 74.252. EXCEPTIONS. Notwithstanding any other law, a
health care liability claim arising from withholding or withdrawing
life-sustaining treatment from a patient in violation of Subchapter
B, Chapter 166, Health and Safety Code, is not subject to a
limitations period.
SECTION 3. Subchapter G, Chapter 74, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 74.304 to read as
follows:
Sec. 74.304. EXCEPTIONS. This subchapter does not apply to
a health care liability claim arising from the withholding or
withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment from a patient in
violation of Subchapter B, Chapter 166, Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 4. Section 166.045(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Section 166.048(c), a [A]
physician, health care facility, or health care professional who
has no knowledge of a directive is not civilly or criminally liable
for failing to act in accordance with the directive.
SECTION 5. Section 166.048, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:
(c) Regardless of knowledge of a directive, a person commits
an offense if the person causes a patient's death by withdrawing or
withholding life-sustaining treatment from the patient:
(1) contrary to:
(A) the patient's validly executed or issued
directive; or
(B) a health care or treatment decision made by
the patient or on behalf of the patient by a person authorized to
make such decisions under this chapter; and
(2) in violation of Section 166.045(c) or 166.046.
(d) An offense under Subsection (c) is a felony of the first
degree.
SECTION 6. Sections 74.252 and 74.304, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a cause of action
that accrues on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 7. Section 166.048, Health and Safety Code, as
amended by this Act, applies only to an offense committed on or
after the effective date of this Act. An offense committed before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on
the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an
offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if any
element of the offense occurred before that date.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.