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20-17-210. Miscellaneous provisions.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-17-210. Miscellaneous provisions.
(a) Death resulting from the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment pursuant to a declaration and in accordance with this subchapter does not constitute, for any purpose, a suicide or homicide.
(b) The making of a declaration pursuant to § 20-17-202 does not affect in any manner the sale, procurement, or issuance of any policy of life insurance or annuity, nor does it affect, impair, or modify the terms of an existing policy of life insurance or annuity. A policy of life insurance or annuity is not legally impaired or invalidated in any manner by the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from an insured qualified patient, notwithstanding any term to the contrary.
(c) A person may not prohibit or require the execution of a declaration as a condition for being insured for, or receiving, healthcare services.
(d) This subchapter creates no presumption concerning the intention of an individual who has revoked or has not executed a declaration with respect to the use, withholding, or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in the event of a terminal condition or permanent unconsciousness.
(e) This subchapter does not affect the right of a patient to make decisions regarding use of life-sustaining treatment, so long as the patient is able to do so, or impair or supersede any right or responsibility that a person has to affect the withholding or withdrawal of medical care.
(f) This subchapter does not require any physician or other healthcare provider to take any action contrary to reasonable medical standards.
(g) This subchapter does not condone, authorize, or approve mercy killing or euthanasia.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-17-210
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Record provenance
Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:20-17-210
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.20.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 3bf0025cc133f93fb11086b55c73ae0c810c4702906312ebf781ec1b2bae34ba
Source location: content.xml paragraph 15310
Stored source content
20-17-210. Miscellaneous provisions.
(a) Death resulting from the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment pursuant to a declaration and in accordance with this subchapter does not constitute, for any purpose, a suicide or homicide.
(b) The making of a declaration pursuant to § 20-17-202 does not affect in any manner the sale, procurement, or issuance of any policy of life insurance or annuity, nor does it affect, impair, or modify the terms of an existing policy of life insurance or annuity. A policy of life insurance or annuity is not legally impaired or invalidated in any manner by the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from an insured qualified patient, notwithstanding any term to the contrary.
(c) A person may not prohibit or require the execution of a declaration as a condition for being insured for, or receiving, healthcare services.
(d) This subchapter creates no presumption concerning the intention of an individual who has revoked or has not executed a declaration with respect to the use, withholding, or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in the event of a terminal condition or permanent unconsciousness.
(e) This subchapter does not affect the right of a patient to make decisions regarding use of life-sustaining treatment, so long as the patient is able to do so, or impair or supersede any right or responsibility that a person has to affect the withholding or withdrawal of medical care.
(f) This subchapter does not require any physician or other healthcare provider to take any action contrary to reasonable medical standards.
(g) This subchapter does not condone, authorize, or approve mercy killing or euthanasia.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-17-202. Declaration relating to use of life-sustaining treatment.
(a)(1) An individual of sound mind and eighteen (18) or more years of age may execute at any time a declaration governing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. The declaration must be signed by the declarant, or another at the declarant's direction, and witnessed by two (2) individuals.
(2) A declaration executed under this section before July 1, 2017, is valid if the declaration substantially complies with subdivision (a)(1) of this section.
(3) A declaration executed under this section on and after July 1, 2017, is valid if the declaration document:
(A) Is notarized but does not have two (2) witnesses; or
(B) Satisfies the requirements of the Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act, § 20-6-101 et seq.
(b) A declaration may be, but need not be, in the following form in the case where the patient has a terminal condition:
“DECLARATION “If I should have an incurable or irreversible condition that will cause my death within a relatively short time, and I am no longer able to make decisions regarding my medical treatment, I direct my attending physician, pursuant to the Arkansas Rights of the Terminally Ill or Permanently Unconscious Act, to [withhold or withdraw treatment that only prolongs the process of dying and is not necessary to my comfort or to alleviate pain] [follow the instructions of whom I appoint as my Health Care Proxy to decide whether life-sustaining treatment should be withheld or withdrawn]. It is my specific directive that nutrition may be withheld after consultation with my attending physician. It is my specific directive that hydration may be withheld after consultation with my attending physician. It is my specific directive that nutrition may not be w
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-17-202
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-17-202. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.