Bill > HB1886

This bill establishes the "Designated Health Care Decision-Maker Act", which creates a comprehensive legal framework for making health care decisions for incapacitated patients who do not have a guardian or existing power of attorney. The legislation defines key terms like "incapacitated" (a person unable to make essential decisions due to physical or mental conditions) and provides a prioritized list of individuals who can serve as a designated health care decision-maker, including spouse, adult children, parents, siblings, grandparents, and other relatives or close personal connections. The bill requires decision-makers to act in the patient's best interests, make reasonable efforts to understand the patient's preferences, and prohibits decisions intended to hasten the patient's death. It also includes protections for health care providers, allowing them to decline to provide care that conflicts with their religious beliefs or moral convictions, while requiring them to facilitate patient transfer if they refuse treatment. The legislation explicitly states that it does not authorize euthanasia or mercy killing and emphasizes preserving the patient's dignity and right to appropriate medical care. Additionally, the bill provides a process for determining a patient's capacity, allows for challenging decisions through probate court, and ensures that health care providers making good-faith efforts to identify and communicate with potential decision-makers are protected from liability.

https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1886&year=2026&code=R