30-3418. Attorney in fact; consult with medical personnel; authority; limitations.
(1) In exercising authority under the power of attorney for health care, an attorney in fact shall have a duty to consult with medical personnel, including the attending physician, and thereupon to make health care decisions (a) in accordance with the principal's wishes as expressed in the power of attorney for health care or as otherwise made known to the attorney in fact or (b) if the principal's wishes are not reasonably known and cannot with reasonable diligence be ascertained, in accordance with the principal's best interests, with due regard for the principal's religious and moral beliefs if known.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (1)(b) of this section, the attorney in fact shall not have the authority to consent to the withholding or withdrawing of a life-sustaining procedure or artificially administered nutrition or hydration unless (a) the principal is suffering from a terminal condition or is in a persistent vegetative state and (b) the power of attorney for health care explicitly grants such authority to the attorney in fact or the intent of the principal to have life-sustaining procedures or artificially administered nutrition or hydration withheld or withdrawn under such circumstances is established by clear and convincing evidence.
(3) In exercising any decision, the attorney in fact shall have no authority to withhold or withdraw consent to routine care necessary to maintain patient comfort or the usual and typical provision of nutrition and hydration.
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Annotations
Where the wishes expressed by the principal while competent were impossible to fulfill and the attorneys in fact for health care faced medical decisions about which the principal’s wishes were not known and could not be reasonably ascertained due to the principal’s incompetence, the duty of the attorneys in fact for health care was to act in a manner consistent with the principal’s best interests. In re Trust Created by Nabity, 289 Neb. 164, 854 N.W.2d 551 (2014).
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