WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                         Ch. 372

"Subtitle 6. Health Care Decision Making and Advance Medical Directives

Act"
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1990 Replacement Volume and 1992 Supplement)

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, and renumbering

Article - Health - General

Section 5-602, 5-601, 5-605, 5-607, and 5-610 through 5-612, respectively

to be Section 20A-406 through 20A-412, respectively

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1990 Replacement Volume and 1992 Supplement)

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Estates and Trusts
Section 13-601, 13-707(a), and 13-708(a) and (c)
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1991 Replacement Volume and 1992 Supplement)

BY adding to

Article - Estates and Trusts

Section 13-711 through 13-713, inclusive, to be under the new part "Part III.

Life-Sustaining Procedures"
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1991 Replacement Volume and 1992 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, The constitutional law of this nation recognizes an individual's right to
personal health care decision making, complementing the common law doctrine of
informed consent; and

WHEREAS, The people of Maryland have a constitutional liberty interest in
making health care decisions in accordance with their own values; and

WHEREAS, The State is constitutionally permitted to enact reasonable safeguards
to protect the integrity of individual health care decisions, to protect the vulnerable and
the dependent, including some people with disabilities and some elderly people, and to
assure that health care decisions made by a surrogate on behalf of an incapacitated
patient are in keeping with the wishes of the patient or are in the best interest of the
patient; and

WHEREAS, The balance struck by this law furthers the preeminent societal value
that the life of every individual has worth in and of itself and is not to be devalued by
reason of an individual's incapacity or perceived diminished "quality of life", whether
because of emotional, mental, or physical disability or because of advanced age or
economic disadvantage; and

- 2009 -