CHAPTER 137-J WRITTEN DIRECTIVES FOR MEDICAL DECISION MAKING FOR ADULTS WITHOUT CAPACITY TO MAKE HEALTH CARE DECISIONS
Do Not Resuscitate
Section 137-J:28
137-J:28 Protection of Persons Carrying Out in Good Faith a Do Not Resuscitate Order; Notification of Agent or Surrogate by Attending Practitioner Refusing to Comply With Do Not Resuscitate or POLST Order. –
I. No health care provider or residential care provider, or any other person acting for the provider or under the provider's control, shall be subjected to criminal or civil liability, or be deemed to have engaged in unprofessional conduct, for carrying out in good faith a do not resuscitate or POLST order authorized by this chapter on behalf of a person as instructed by the person, or the person's agent or surrogate, or for those actions taken in compliance with the standards and procedures set forth in this chapter.
II. No health care provider or residential care provider, or any other person acting for the provider or under the provider's control, or other individual who witnesses a cardiac or respiratory arrest shall be subjected to criminal or civil liability for providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation to a person for whom a do not resuscitate order has been issued; provided, that such provider or individual:
(a) Reasonably and in good faith is unaware of the issuance of a do not resuscitate order; or
(b) Reasonably and in good faith believed that consent to the do not resuscitate order has been revoked or canceled.
III. (a) Any attending practitioner who, because of personal beliefs or conscience, refuses to issue a do not resuscitate order at a person's request or to comply with a do not resuscitate or POLST order issued pursuant to this chapter shall take reasonable steps to advise promptly the person or agent or surrogate of the person that such attending practitioner is unwilling to effectuate the order. The attending practitioner shall thereafter at the election of the person or agent or surrogate permit the person or agent or surrogate to obtain another attending practitioner.
(b) If an attending practitioner, because of the practitioner's personal beliefs or conscience, is unable to comply with the terms of a do not resuscitate or POLST order, the practitioner shall immediately inform the person, the person's agent or surrogate. The person or the person's agent or surrogate[ may then request that the case be referred to another practitioner, as set forth in RSA 137-J:7.