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Agent: means an adult designated in an advance health care directive to make health care decisions for the declarant. See Utah Code 75-2a-103
Best interest: means that the benefits to the person resulting from a treatment outweigh the burdens to the person resulting from the treatment, taking into account:
(a)
the effect of the treatment on the physical, emotional, and cognitive functions of the person;
(b)
the degree of physical pain or discomfort caused to the person by the treatment or the withholding or withdrawal of treatment;
(c)
the degree to which the person's medical condition, the treatment, or the withholding or withdrawal of treatment, result in a severe and continuing impairment of the dignity of the person by subjecting the person to humiliation and dependency;
(d)
the effect of the treatment on the life expectancy of the person;
(e)
the prognosis of the person for recovery with and without the treatment;
(f)
the risks, side effects, and benefits of the treatment, or the withholding or withdrawal of treatment; and
(g)
the religious beliefs and basic values of the person receiving treatment, to the extent these may assist the decision maker in determining the best interest. See Utah Code 75-2a-103
Health care: means any care, treatment, service, or procedure to improve, maintain, diagnose, or otherwise affect an individual's physical or mental condition. See Utah Code 75-2a-103
Health care decision making capacity: means an adult's ability to make an informed decision about receiving or refusing health care, including:
(a)
the ability to understand the nature, extent, or probable consequences of health status and health care alternatives;
(b)
the ability to make a rational evaluation of the burdens, risks, benefits, and alternatives of accepting or rejecting health care; and
developments in health care technology make possible many alternatives for treating medical conditions and make possible the unnatural prolongation of life;
(b)
an adult should have the clear legal choice to:
(i)
accept or reject health care, even if rejecting health care will result in death sooner than death would be expected to occur if rejected health care were started or continued;
(ii)
be spared unwanted procedures; and
(iii)
be permitted to die with a maximum of dignity and function and a minimum of pain;
(c)
Utah law should:
(i)
provide an adult with a legal tool to designate a health care agent and express preferences about health care options to go into effect only after the adult loses the ability to make or communicate health care decisions, including decisions about end-of-life care; and
(ii)
promote an advance health care directive system that can be administered effectively within the health care system;
(d)
surrogate decisions made on behalf of an adult who previously had capacity to make health care decisions, but who has lost health care decision making capacity should be based on:
(i)
input from the incapacitated adult, to the extent possible under the circumstances;
(ii)
specific preferences expressed by the adult prior to the loss of health care decision making capacity;
(iii)
the surrogate‘s understanding of the adult’s health care preferences; and
(iv)
the surrogate’s understanding of what the adult would have wanted under the circumstances; and
(e)
surrogate decisions made on behalf of an adult who has never had health care decision making capacity should be made on the basis of the adult’s best interest.
(2)
In recognition of the dignity and privacy that each adult is entitled to expect, and to protect the right of an adult to refuse to be treated without the adult’s consent, the Legislature declares that this state recognizes the right to make binding advance health care directives directing health care providers to:
(a)
provide life sustaining medically indicated health care;
(b)
withhold or withdraw health care; or
(c)
provide health care only to the extent set forth in an advance health care directive.
