House rewrites LA's end-of-life bill

[AnnInLa]

House rewrites Louisiana's end-of-life bill
By MARSHA SHULER
[e-mail]
Capitol news bureau

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At the end of the day, the House opted to take Louisiana out of making decisions on nutrition and hydration to sustain the life of an individual legally incapable of making medical determinations.

The House tackled the issue in House Bill 675 by Rep. Gary Beard, which would have presumed that an individual would have chosen life if no written or oral declaration to the contrary had been made. The state should come down on the side of life, said Beard, R-Baton Rouge.





Rep. Tim Burns, R-Mandeville, said state law is working just fine. Burns said Beard's proposal "imposes the state's will as opposed to a person's, an individual's will expressed to family members or family members will." Rep. Peppi Bruneau, R-New Orleans, said, "Why should we want to shove a feeding tube down somebody's throat just because somebody says that's pro-life?"




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The House left intact one change Beard proposed that further defines what constitutes a spouse who can make medical decisions when their loved one is incapable.

The person would have to be legally married to the patient. They cannot be separated, living in concubinage with another, convicted of a violent crime against the spouse or violated any domestic abuse protective order affecting the other spouse.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/060705/pol_endoflife001.shtml