Act No. 551

Public Acts of 2004

Approved by the Governor

December 30, 2004

Filed with the Secretary of State

January 3, 2005

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 3, 2005

STATE OF MICHIGAN

92ND LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2004

Introduced by Senators Jacobs, Hammerstrom and Patterson

ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 1465

AN ACT to amend 1978 PA 368, entitled "An act to protect and promote the public health; to codify, revise, consolidate, classify, and add to the laws relating to public health; to provide for the prevention and control of diseases and disabilities; to provide for the classification, administration, regulation, financing, and maintenance of personal, environmental, and other health services and activities; to create or continue, and prescribe the powers and duties of, departments, boards, commissions, councils, committees, task forces, and other agencies; to prescribe the powers and duties of governmental entities and officials; to regulate occupations, facilities, and agencies affecting the public health; to regulate health maintenance organizations and certain third party administrators and insurers; to provide for the imposition of a regulatory fee; to provide for the levy of taxes against certain health facilities or agencies; to promote the efficient and economical delivery of health care services, to provide for the appropriate utilization of health care facilities and services, and to provide for the closure of hospitals or consolidation of hospitals or services; to provide for the collection and use of data and information; to provide for the transfer of property; to provide certain immunity from liability; to regulate and prohibit the sale and offering for sale of drug paraphernalia under certain circumstances; to provide for the implementation of federal law; to provide for penalties and remedies; to provide for sanctions for violations of this act and local ordinances; to provide for an appropriation and supplements; to repeal certain acts and parts of acts; to repeal certain parts of this act; and to repeal certain parts of this act on specific dates," by amending sections 5653 and 5654 (MCL 333.5653 and 333.5654), as amended by 2001 PA 239.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 5653. (1) As used in this part:

(a) "Advanced illness", except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, means a medical or surgical condition with significant functional impairment that is not reversible by curative therapies and that is anticipated to progress toward death despite attempts at curative therapies or modulation, the time course of which may or may not be determinable through reasonable medical prognostication. For purposes of section 5655(b) only, "advanced illness" has the same general meaning as "terminal illness" has in the medical community.

(b) "Health facility" means a health facility or agency licensed under article 17.

(c) "Hospice" means that term as defined in section 20106.

(d) "Medical treatment" means a treatment including, but not limited to, palliative care treatment, or a procedure, medication, surgery, a diagnostic test, or a hospice plan of care that may be ordered, provided, or withheld or withdrawn by a health professional or a health facility under generally accepted standards of medical practice and that is not prohibited by law.

(e) "Patient" means an individual who is under the care of a physician.

(f) "Patient advocate" means that term as described and used in sections 5506 to 5515 of the estates and protected individuals code, 1998 PA 386, MCL 700.5506 to 700.5515.

(g) "Patient surrogate" means the parent or legal guardian of a patient who is a minor or a member of the immediate family, the next of kin, or the legal guardian of a patient who has a condition other than minority that prevents the patient from giving consent to medical treatment.

(h) "Physician" means that term as defined in section 17001 or 17501.

(2) Article 1 contains general definitions and principles of construction applicable to all articles in this code.

Sec. 5654. (1) A physician who has diagnosed a patient as having a reduced life expectancy due to an advanced illness and is recommending medical treatment for the patient shall do all of the following:

(a) Orally inform the patient, the patient's patient surrogate, or, if the patient has designated a patient advocate and is unable to participate in medical treatment decisions, the patient advocate acting on behalf of the patient in accordance with sections 5506 to 5515 of the estates and protected individuals code, 1998 PA 386, MCL 700.5506 to 700.5515, about the recommended medical treatment and about alternatives to the recommended medical treatment.

(b) Orally inform the patient, patient surrogate, or patient advocate about the advantages, disadvantages, and risks of the recommended medical treatment and of each alternative medical treatment described in subdivision (a) and about the procedures involved.

(2) A physician's duty to inform a patient, patient surrogate, or patient advocate under subsection (1) does not require the disclosure of information beyond that required by the applicable standard of practice.

(3) Subsection (1) does not limit or modify the information required to be disclosed under sections 5133(2) and 17013(1).

Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect unless Senate Bill No. 1464 of the 92nd Legislature is enacted into law.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Secretary of the Senate

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Approved

Governor