2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 24 - Health and Safety
Article 7A - Uniform Health-Care Decisions
Section 24-7A-7 - Obligations of health-care practitioner.
A. Before implementing a health-care decision made for a patient, a supervising health-care practitioner shall promptly communicate to the patient the decision made and the identity of the person making the decision.
B. A supervising health-care practitioner who knows of the existence of an advance health-care directive, a revocation of an advance health-care directive, a challenge to a determination of lack of capacity or a designation or disqualification of a surrogate shall promptly record its existence in the patient's health-care record and, if it is in writing, shall request a copy and, if one is furnished, shall arrange for its maintenance in the health-care record.
C. A supervising health-care practitioner who makes or is informed of a determination that a patient lacks or has recovered capacity or that another condition exists that affects an individual instruction or the authority of an agent, guardian or surrogate shall promptly record the determination in the patient's health-care record and communicate the determination to the patient and to any person then authorized to make health-care decisions for the patient.
D. Except as provided in Subsections E and F of this section, a health-care practitioner or health-care institution providing care to a patient shall comply:
(1) before and after the patient is determined to lack capacity, with an individual instruction of the patient made while the patient had capacity;
(2) with a reasonable interpretation of the individual instruction made by a person then authorized to make health-care decisions for the patient; and
(3) with a health-care decision for the patient that is not contrary to an individual instruction of the patient and is made by a person then authorized to make health-care decisions for the patient, to the same extent as if the decision had been made by the patient while having capacity.
E. A health-care practitioner may decline to comply with an individual instruction or health-care decision for reasons of conscience. A health-care institution may decline to comply with an individual instruction or health-care decision if the instruction or decision is contrary to a policy of the health-care institution that is expressly based on reasons of conscience and if the policy was timely communicated to the patient or to a person then authorized to make health-care decisions for the patient.
F. A health-care practitioner or health-care institution may decline to comply with an individual instruction or health-care decision that requires medically ineffective health care or health care contrary to generally accepted health-care standards applicable to the health-care practitioner or health-care institution. "Medically ineffective health care" means treatment that would not offer the patient any significant benefit, as determined by a health-care practitioner.
G. A health-care practitioner or health-care institution that declines to comply with an individual instruction or health-care decision shall:
(1) promptly so inform the patient, if possible, and any person then authorized to make health-care decisions for the patient;
(2) provide continuing care to the patient until a transfer can be effected; and
(3) unless the patient or person then authorized to make health-care decisions for the patient refuses assistance, immediately make all reasonable efforts to assist in the transfer of the patient to another health-care practitioner or health-care institution that is willing to comply with the individual instruction or decision.
H. A health-care practitioner or health-care institution may not require or prohibit the execution or revocation of an advance health-care directive as a condition for providing health care.
I. The Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act does not require or permit a health-care institution or health-care practitioner to provide any type of health care for which the health-care institution or health-care practitioner is not licensed, certified or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to provide.
History: Laws 1995, ch. 182, § 7; 1997, ch. 168, § 5; 2015, ch. 116, § 7.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2015 amendment, effective June 19, 2015, amended the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act provision relating to the obligations of health-care practitioners; substituted each reference to "health-care provider" with "health-care practitioner" throughout the section; in Paragraph (2) of Subsection D, after "interpretation of", deleted "that" and added "the individual"; in Subsection F, after "as determined by a", deleted "physician" and added "health-care practitioner"; and in Paragraph (3) of Subsection G, after "willing to comply with the", added "individual".
Temporary provisions. — Laws 2015, ch. 116, § 16 provided that by January 1, 2016, every cabinet secretary, agency head and head of a political subdivision of the state shall update rules requiring an examination by, a certificate from or a statement of a licensed physician to also accept such examination, certificate or statement from an advanced practice registered nurse, certified nurse-midwife or physician assistant working within that person's scope of practice.
The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, inserted "health-care" preceding "institution" throughout the section; substituted "supervising health-care provider" for "primary physician" near the beginning of Subsection C; and made stylistic changes.
