(a) Licensed residential care facilities for the elderly that employ health care providers may establish policies to honor a request to forego resuscitative measures as defined in Section 4780 of the Probate Code.
(b) Any policy established pursuant to subdivision (a) shall meet all of the following conditions:
(1) The policy shall be in writing and specify procedures to be followed in implementing the policy.
(2) The policy and procedures shall, at all times, be available in the facility for review by the department.
(3) The licensee shall ensure that all staff are aware of the policy as well as the procedures to be followed in implementing the policy.
(4) A copy of the policy shall be given to each resident who makes a request to forego resuscitative measures and to the resident’s primary physician.
(5) A copy of the resident’s request to forego resuscitative measures shall be maintained in the facility and shall be immediately available for review by facility staff, the licensed health care provider, and the department.
(6) Facility staff are prohibited, on behalf of any resident, from signing any directive document as a witness or from being the legally recognized surrogate decisionmaker.
(7) The facility shall provide the resident’s physician with a copy of the resident’s request to forego resuscitative measures form.
(c) Any action by a facility that has established policies pursuant to subdivision (a), to honor a resident’s request to forego resuscitative measures as provided for in subdivision (a) may only be taken in either of the following ways:
(1) By a licensed health care provider who is employed by the facility and on the premises at the time of the life threatening emergency.
(2) By notifying, under those conditions specified in subdivision (c) of Section 1569.73, the hospice agency that is caring for a resident receiving hospice services.
(d) Licensed residential care facilities for the elderly that have not established policies pursuant to subdivision (a), may keep an executed request to forego resuscitative measures form in the resident’s file and present it to an emergency medical technician or paramedic when authorized to do so in writing by the resident or his or her legally recognized surrogate decisionmaker. The request may be honored by an emergency medical technician or by any health care provider as defined in Section 4621 of the Probate Code, who, in the course of professional or volunteer duties, responds to emergencies.
(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 312, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2004.)
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