Texas Advance Directives Act - 2015 Legislative Session

The 2015 legislative session (the 84th) in Texas has just begun and some are getting ready to again tackle the Advance Directives Act.



TADA was last amended in 2003.  Multiple bills were advanced in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013.  But none were enacted.  Get ready for round five.    



In the January 2015 issue of TEXAS MEDICINE:  "In anticipation of another round of debates over end-of-life care, TMA's workgroup dedicated to the issue will work to protect physicians' ability to do what's best for patients in their final days."



Defending TADA is part of the Texas Medical Association's strategic roadmap for state advocacy initiatives, Healthy Vision 2020 (2d ed.).

"Legislation has been introduced over the past four legislative sessions that would instead require indefinite treatment with no provision for the physician exercising ethics or moral judgment. TMA has opposed these proposals because they would prolong unnecessary — and often painful or even torturous — care that cannot prevent but can only prolong death. They would also require physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals to provide medically inappropriate care, even if that care violates medical ethics or the standard of care. They also would set a dangerous precedent for the legislature to mandate the provision of physician services and treatments that may be medically inappropriate, outside the standard of care, or unethical."