More Red Light, Anti-Futility Legislation in 2019

I have described laws that require clinician to administer potentially inappropriate surrogate-requested medical treatment as "red light" laws, because they tell the clinician "stop, you may not proceed as you see appropriate."

Notable examples of "red light" laws are in Ontario, Oklahoma, and Idaho. In addition, there are DNR-specific "red light" laws in Kansas and Texas among other states. And there are some other variations too.

As the 2019 legislative session gets underway, there are already multiple "red light" bills being considered in statehouses across the country. Here are two examples.

"Simon's Law" is a piece of legislation that has been introduced in many states over the past several years. Arizona H.B. 2122 is the most recent. It provides "a health care facility, nursing home, physician or nurse may not implement a do-not-resuscitate order or a similar physician's order that is given either orally or in writing without the written or oral consent of at least one parent or guardian of the patient."

The "Nondiscrimination in Involuntary Denial of Treatment Act" is also  piece of legislation that has been introduced in many states over the past several years. West Virginia H.B. 2493 and H.B. 2227 and S.B. 307 are the most recent.

They provide: "If a patient, the terms of a patient's advance directive, or a person legally authorized to make health care decisions on behalf of a patient directs the provision of medical treatment . . . the denial of which would, in reasonable medical judgment, be likely to result in or hasten the death of the patient, the patient's physician or health care facility may not deny provision of such treatment . . . on the basis of the physician's or health care provider's disagreement with how . . .  values the trade-off between extending the length of the patient's life and the risk of disability."