Ch. 327

2004 LAWS OF MARYLAND

(d)     (1) Any competent individual may make an oral advance directive to
authorize the providing, withholding, or withdrawing of any life-sustaining
procedure or to appoint an agent to make health care decisions for the individual.

(2) An oral advance directive shall have the same effect as a written
advance directive if made in the presence of the attending physician and one witness
and if the substance of the oral advance directive is documented as part of the
individual's medical record. The documentation shall be dated and signed by the
attending physician and the witness.

(e)     (1) Unless otherwise provided in the document, an advance directive
shall become effective when the declarant's attending physician and a second
physician certify in writing that the patient is incapable of making an informed
decision.

(2) If a patient is unconscious, or unable to communicate by any means,
the certification of a second physician is not required under paragraph (1) of this
subsection.

(f)      (1) It shall be the responsibility of the declarant to notify the attending
physician that an advance directive has been made. In the event the declarant
becomes comatose, incompetent, or otherwise incapable of communication, any other
person may notify the physician of the existence of an advance directive.

(2) An attending physician who is notified of the existence of the advance
directive shall promptly:

(i) If the advance directive is written, make the advance directive
or a copy of the advance directive a part of the declarant's medical records; or

(ii) If the advance directive is oral, make the substance of the
advance directive, including the date the advance directive was made and the name of
the attending physician, a part of the declarant's medical records.

(g)     It shall be the responsibility of the declarant to notify a health care agent
that the agent has been named in an advance directive to act on the declarant's
behalf.

(h) Unless otherwise provided in the patient's advance directive, a patient's
agent shall act in accordance with the provisions of § 5-605(c) of this subtitle.

(i) The absence of an advance directive creates no presumption as to the
patient's intent to consent to or refuse life-sustaining procedures.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take
effect October 1, 2004.

Approved May 11, 2004.

- 1234 -