AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide information on the effective date of this act.

Amending Health Care Directives for Mental Health Treatment

This act changes the wording in Delaware's advance health care directive forms to specify that agents can only admit a person to mental health treatment facilities for up to 72 hours.

What This Bill Does

• Changes the language in the optional special powers section of the advance health-care directive form.
• Limits the number of days an agent can admit someone to a mental health facility to 72 hours.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who create advance health care directives in Delaware.
• Agents or surrogates named in these directives.

Terms To Know

Advance Health-Care Directive

A legal document that allows a person to appoint someone else (an agent) to make medical decisions on their behalf if they are unable to do so.

Agent

The person named in an advance health-care directive who is authorized to make health care decisions for the individual when they cannot make them themselves.

Limits and Unknowns

• This act only affects those using advance health-care directives in Delaware.
• It does not change how long a person can be admitted to mental health facilities without an agent's consent.

Official Summary Text

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES.
This Act makes a technical correction to the optional special powers form in the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act in Title 16. Currently, the existing language in the form implies any number of days can be written in to the advance directive when designating a maximum length of time for a mental health care related admission. However, under § 2518(e) of Title 16, an agent or default surrogate may not consent to voluntary admission of an individual to a facility for mental health treatment for longer than 72 hours. This Act removes the open-ended language in the form, so that a voluntary admission to a mental health facility by an agent may not exceed 72 hours.

Current Bill Text

Legislation Document

SPONSOR:

Sen. Seigfried & Rep. Neal

DELAWARE STATE SENATE

153rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SENATE BILL NO. 339

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:

Section 1. Amend § 2511, Title 16 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§ 2511. Optional form.

The following form may be used to create an advance health-care directive:

ADVANCE HEALTH-CARE DIRECTIVE

HOW YOU CAN USE THIS FORM

You can use this form if you wish to name someone to make health-care decisions for you in case you cannot make decisions for yourself. This is called giving the person a power of attorney for health care. This person is called your Agent.

PART C: OPTIONAL SPECIAL POWERS AND GUIDANCE

This part lets you give your Agent additional powers, and to provide more guidance about your wishes. You may mark or initial each choice. You also may leave any choice blank.

1. OPTIONAL SPECIAL POWERS

My Agent can do the following things ONLY if I have marked or initialed them below:

(____) Admit me as a voluntary patient to a facility for mental health treatment for up to _____ days

(write in the number of days

you want like 7, 14, 30 or another number)

(this number may not exceed 72 hours, which is equal to 3 days).

(If I do not mark or initial this choice, my Agent MAY NOT admit me as a voluntary patient to this type of facility.)

SYNOPSIS

This Act makes a technical correction to the optional special powers form in the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act in Title 16. Currently, the existing language in the form implies any number of days can be written in to the advance directive when designating a maximum length of time for a mental health care related admission. However, under § 2518(e) of Title 16, an agent or default surrogate may not consent to voluntary admission of an individual to a facility for mental health treatment for longer than 72 hours. This Act removes the open-ended language in the form, so that a voluntary admission to a mental health facility by an agent may not exceed 72 hours.

Author: Senator Seigfried