§ 9708 - Authority and obligations of health care providers, health care facilities, and residential care facilities regarding do-not-resuscitate orders - Vermont Statutes

§ 9708. Authority and obligations of health care providers, health care facilities, and residential care facilities regarding do-not-resuscitate orders

(a) A do-not-resuscitate ("DNR") order must:

(1) be signed by the patient's clinician;

(2) certify that the clinician has consulted, or made an effort to consult, with the patient, and the patient's agent or guardian, if there is an appointed agent or guardian;

(3) include either:

(A) the name of the patient, agent, or other individual giving informed consent for the DNR and the individual's relationship to the patient; or

(B) certification that the patient's clinician and one other named clinician have determined that resuscitation would not prevent the imminent death of the patient, should the patient experience cardiopulmonary arrest; and

(4) if the patient is in a health care facility or a residential care facility, certify that the requirements of the facility's DNR protocol required by section 9709 of this title have been met.

(b) A clinician who issues a DNR order may authorize issuance of a DNR identification to the principal.

(c) Every health care provider, health care facility, and residential care facility shall honor a DNR order or a DNR identification unless the provider or facility:

(1) believes in good faith, after consultation with the agent or guardian where possible and appropriate, that:

(A) the principal wishes to have the DNR order revoked; or

(B) the principal with the DNR identification is not the individual for whom the DNR order was issued; and

(2) documents the basis for that belief in the principal's medical record.

(d) A DNR order precludes efforts to resuscitate only in the event of cardiopulmonary arrest and does not affect other therapeutic interventions that may be appropriate for the patient. (Added 2005, No. 55, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.)