Section 9.14 Duties Under Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Act Different From Durable Power of Attorney Law

• Library: Trusts and Powers 2013 Supp

3. (§9.14) Duties Under Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Act Different From Durable Power of Attorney Law

Missouri statute provides for duties of an attorney in fact that are specific to a DPAHC.

· While § 404.820, RSMo 2000, permits a patient to confer on an attorney in fact the authority to direct a health care provider to withhold or withdraw artificially supplied nutrition and hydration, there are several requirements and restrictions applicable to this provision, including procedures that the physician must follow. See §9.17, infra. Section 404.820.2 provides that the attorney in fact may not authorize the withdrawal of nutrition or hydration that the patient may ingest through natural means “with the intent of causing the death of the patient.”

· An attorney in fact must consider appropriate measures in accord with current standards of medical practice to provide comfort to the patient. Section 404.820.3. Although this mandate is found in § 404.820 relating to withdrawal or withholding of nutrition and hydration, this may well apply to all health care decisions.

· Section 404.822, RSMo 2000, establishes a duty for the attorney in fact to seek out and consider various kinds of medical information, diagnosis, and prognosis. Furthermore, in withdrawing treatment that would allow the pre-existing condition to run its natural course, the attorney in fact is to seek evidence of the medical diagnosis and the prognosis and the benefit and burden of the...