1. Sections 190.600 to 190.621 shall be known and may be cited as the “Outside the Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Act”.

2. As used in sections 190.600 to 190.621, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms shall mean:

Terms Used In Missouri Laws 190.600

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Guardian: if used in a section in a context relating to property rights or obligations, means conservator of the estate as defined in chapter 475. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC

(1) “Attending physician”:

(a) A physician licensed under chapter 334 selected by or assigned to a patient who has primary responsibility for treatment and care of the patient; or

(b) If more than one physician shares responsibility for the treatment and care of a patient, one such physician who has been designated the attending physician by the patient or the patient’s representative shall serve as the attending physician;

(2) “Cardiopulmonary resuscitation” or “CPR”, emergency medical treatment administered to a patient in the event of the patient’s cardiac or respiratory arrest, and shall include cardiac compression, endotracheal intubation and other advanced airway management, artificial ventilation, defibrillation, administration of cardiac resuscitation medications, and related procedures;

(3) “Department”, the department of health and senior services;

(4) “Emergency medical services personnel”, paid or volunteer firefighters, law enforcement officers, first responders, emergency medical technicians, or other emergency service personnel acting within the ordinary course and scope of their professions, but excluding physicians;

(5) “Health care facility”, any institution, building, or agency or portion thereof, private or public, excluding federal facilities and hospitals, whether organized for profit or not, used, operated, or designed to provide health services, medical treatment, or nursing, rehabilitative, or preventive care to any person or persons. Health care facility includes but is not limited to ambulatory surgical facilities, health maintenance organizations, home health agencies, hospices, infirmaries, renal dialysis centers, long-term care facilities licensed under sections 198.003 to 198.186, medical assistance facilities, mental health centers, outpatient facilities, public health centers, rehabilitation facilities, and residential treatment facilities;

(6) “Hospital”, a place devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of facilities for the diagnosis, treatment, or care for not less than twenty-four consecutive hours in any week of three or more nonrelated individuals suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity, or other abnormal physical conditions; or a place devoted primarily to provide for not less than twenty-four consecutive hours in any week medical or nursing care for three or more nonrelated individuals. Hospital does not include any long-term care facility licensed under sections 198.003 to 198.186;

(7) “Outside the hospital do-not-resuscitate identification” or “outside the hospital DNR identification”, a standardized identification card, bracelet, or necklace of a single color, form, and design as described by rule of the department that signifies that the patient’s attending physician has issued an outside the hospital do-not-resuscitate order for the patient and has documented the grounds for the order in the patient’s medical file;

(8) “Outside the hospital do-not-resuscitate order” or “outside the hospital DNR order”, a written physician’s order signed by the patient and the attending physician, or the patient’s representative and the attending physician, in a form promulgated by rule of the department which authorizes emergency medical services personnel to withhold or withdraw cardiopulmonary resuscitation from the patient in the event of cardiac or respiratory arrest;

(9) “Outside the hospital do-not-resuscitate protocol” or “outside the hospital DNR protocol”, a standardized method or procedure promulgated by rule of the department for the withholding or withdrawal of cardiopulmonary resuscitation by emergency medical services personnel from a patient in the event of cardiac or respiratory arrest;

(10) “Patient”, a person eighteen years of age or older who is not incapacitated, as defined in section 475.010, and who is otherwise competent to give informed consent to an outside the hospital do-not-resuscitate order at the time such order is issued, and who, with his or her attending physician, has executed an outside the hospital do-not-resuscitate order under sections 190.600 to 190.621. A person who has a patient’s representative shall also be a patient for the purposes of sections 190.600 to 190.621, if the person or the person’s patient’s representative has executed an outside the hospital do-not-resuscitate order under sections 190.600 to 190.621;

(11) “Patient’s representative”:

(a) An attorney in fact designated in a durable power of attorney for health care for a patient determined to be incapacitated under sections 404.800 to 404.872; or

(b) A guardian or limited guardian appointed under chapter 475 to have responsibility for an incapacitated patient.