AB 861

Current law allows an individual to execute a declaration to physicians that

specifies whether that individual chooses to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining

procedures or feeding tubes if that individual has a terminal condition or is in a

vegetative state. The Wisconsin form to be prepared by the Department of Health

Services specifies that the individual, if he or she has a terminal condition, does not

want his or her dying to be artificially prolonged and does not want life-sustaining

procedures to be used. Under current law the physician must follow the wishes in

the declaration unless the physician believes that withholding or withdrawing

life-sustaining procedures or feeding tubes would cause the patient pain or reduced

comfort and that the pain or discomfort cannot be alleviated through pain relief

measures. Under current law, the declaration to physicians has no effect during the

pregnancy of a woman the physician knows to be pregnant. This bill eliminates the

prohibition on giving effect to the declaration during a woman's pregnancy.

Under current law, a physician may issue a do-not-resuscitate order if all of the

following apply: the patient has attained age 18 and has a terminal condition; the

patient has a medical condition in which resuscitation would be unsuccessful in

restoring cardiac or respiratory function or the patient would experience repeated

cardiac or pulmonary failure within a short period before death; the patient or the

patient's guardian or health care agent requests, consents to, and signs the order; the

order is in writing; and the physician does not know the patient to be pregnant.

Current law requires emergency medical technicians, first responders, and

emergency health care facility personnel to follow a do-not-resuscitate order except

if the do-not-resuscitate order is revoked, if the patient's do-not-resuscitate

bracelet appears to have been tampered with or removed, or if the emergency

personnel know the patient to be pregnant. The bill removes the restriction on

obtaining a do-not-resuscitate order when the patient is pregnant. The bill also

removes the prohibition on following do-not-resuscitate orders when the patient is

pregnant.

Under current law, an individual may execute a power of attorney for health

care, which allows the designation of a health care agent to make health care

decisions on behalf of the individual while the individual is incapacitated. Current

law and the Wisconsin form for the power of attorney for health care allow the

individual who is executing the power of attorney for health care to specify certain

decisions that the agent may make. Specifically, the individual may designate by

checking "yes" or "no" whether the agent may make health care decisions when the

individual is pregnant. If the individual does not check either "yes" or "no" on the

form, the form specifies that the agent may not make health care decisions when the

individual is pregnant. The bill changes the default so that if an individual does not

check either "yes" or "no" on the form, the agent may make health care decisions

when the individual is pregnant.