SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Gerald Ortiz y Pino

A JOINT MEMORIAL

DECLARING MARCH 1, 2013 TO BE "HEALTH CARE ADVANCE DIRECTIVE DAY" AT THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATURE.

     WHEREAS, developments in health care technology make possible many alternatives for treating medical conditions and make possible the unnatural prolongation of life; and

     WHEREAS, an adult should be spared unwanted health care procedures; and

     WHEREAS, a competent adult should have the clear legal choice to accept or reject health care, even if rejecting health care will result in death sooner than death would be expected to occur through the provision of the rejected health care; and

     WHEREAS, a competent adult should be permitted to die with a maximum of dignity and functional capacity and a minimum of pain; and

     WHEREAS, advance care planning is the practice of making explicit written instructions to caregivers, family and friends on measures for delivering health care and for preserving that adult's dignity in the event that the adult is unable, because of incapacity, to make those instructions known when needed at a later time; and

     WHEREAS, advance care planning includes the use of advance health care directives, health care powers of attorney and medical orders for life-sustaining treatment that can be administered effectively within the health care system; and

     WHEREAS, advance care planning provides support for patients and their families making difficult life decisions; and

     WHEREAS, advance care planning ensures that the patient's informed end-of-life health care choices are known, documented and respected; and

     WHEREAS, advance care planning provides competent adults 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 deeply personal decisions about end-of-life care; and

     WHEREAS, compassion and choices volunteer action teams are forming in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Silver City, Taos and other communities to protect and expand end-of-life choices and individual freedoms for New Mexicans;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the right of each adult to expect dignity and privacy be recognized; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the right of an adult to refuse to be treated without the adult's consent be protected; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the right of competent adults to make fully informed health care decisions expressed contemporaneously or through advance health care directives be recognized; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that March 1, 2013 be declared "Health Care Advance Directive Day" at the New Mexico legislature.

- 3 -