Competency and intent of declarant. (a) The desires of a qualified patient shall at all times supersede the effect of the declaration. (b) If the qualified patient is incompetent at the time of the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures, a declaration executed in accordance with § 7-622 is presumed to be valid. For the purpose of this subchapter, a physician or health facility may presume in the absence of actual notice to the contrary that an individual who executed a declaration was of sound mind when it was executed. The fact of an individual’s having executed a declaration shall not be considered as an indication of a declarant’s mental incompetency. (Feb. 25, 1982, D.C. Law 4-69, § 7, 28 DCR 5047.) Prior Codifications 1981 Ed., § 6-2426.
District of Columbia Legal Code