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Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 154.07

  • Following: when used by way of reference to any statute section, means the section next following that in which the reference is made. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Person: includes all partnerships, associations and bodies politic or corporate. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Qualified: when applied to any person elected or appointed to office, means that such person has done those things which the person was by law required to do before entering upon the duties of the person's office. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
   (1)    Liability.
      (a)    No health care professional, inpatient health care facility, or person who is licensed, certified, or registered under ch. 441, 448, or 455 or holds a compact privilege under subch. XI of ch. 448 and who is acting under the direction of a health care professional may be held criminally or civilly liable, or charged with unprofessional conduct, for any of the following:
154.07 Note NOTE: The cross-reference to subch. XI of ch. 448 was changed from subch. X of ch. 448 by the legislative reference bureau under s. 13.92 (1) (bm) 2. to reflect the renumbering under s. 13.92 (1) (bm) 2. of subch. X of ch. 448.
         1.    Participating in the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures or feeding tubes under this subchapter.
         2.    Failing to act upon a revocation unless the person or facility has actual knowledge of the revocation.
         3.    Failing to comply with a declaration, except that failure by a health care professional to comply with a declaration of a qualified patient constitutes unprofessional conduct if the health care professional refuses or fails to make a good faith attempt to transfer the qualified patient to another health care professional who will comply with the declaration.
      (b)   
         1.    No person who acts in good faith as a witness to a declaration under this subchapter may be held civilly or criminally liable for participating in the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures or feeding tubes under this subchapter.
         2.    Subdivision 1. does not apply to a person who acts as a witness in violation of s. 154.03 (1).
      (c)    Pars. (a) and (b) apply to acts or omissions in connection with a provision of a document that is executed in another jurisdiction if the provision is valid and enforceable under s. 154.11 (9).
   (2)   Effect of declaration. The desires of a qualified patient who is competent supersede the effect of the declaration at all times. If a qualified patient is adjudicated incompetent at the time of the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures or feeding tubes, a declaration executed under this subchapter is presumed to be valid. The declaration of a qualified patient who is diagnosed as pregnant by the attending health care professional has no effect during the course of the qualified patient’s pregnancy. For the purposes of this subchapter, a health care professional or inpatient health care facility may presume in the absence of actual notice to the contrary that a person who executed a declaration was of sound mind at the time.