Kansas Statutes 65-28,106. Same; desires of qualified patient supersede declaration; presumptions relating to declaration; immunity from civil or criminal liability for persons acting pursuant to declaration
The desires of a qualified patient shall at all times supersede the effect of the declaration.
If the qualified patient is incompetent at the time of the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures, a declaration executed in accordance with Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-28,103 is presumed to be valid. For the purpose of this act, a physician or medical care facility may presume in the absence of actual notice to the contrary that an individual who executed a declaration was of sound mind when it was executed. The fact of an individual’s having executed a declaration shall not be considered as an indication of a declarant’s mental incompetency. Age of itself shall not be a bar to a determination of competency.
Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 65-28,106
- Declaration: means a witnessed document in writing, voluntarily executed by the declarant in accordance with the requirements of Kan. See Kansas Statutes 65-28,102
- Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery by the state board of healing arts. See Kansas Statutes 65-28,102
- Qualified patient: means a patient who has executed a declaration in accordance with this act and who has been diagnosed and certified in writing to be afflicted with a terminal condition by two physicians who have personally examined the patient, one of whom shall be the attending physician. See Kansas Statutes 65-28,102
No physician, licensed health care professional, medical care facility or employee thereof who in good faith and pursuant to reasonable medical standards causes or participates in the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining procedures from a qualified patient pursuant to a declaration made in accordance with this act shall, as a result thereof, be subject to criminal or civil liability, or be found to have committed an act of unprofessional conduct.