Ark. Code Ann. § 20-17-206 (2020)

1. A qualified patient may make decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment as long as the patient is able to do so.
2. This subchapter does not affect the responsibility of the attending physician or other healthcare provider to provide treatment, including nutrition or hydration, or both, for a patient's comfort or alleviation of pain.
3. The declaration of a qualified patient known to the attending physician to be pregnant must not be given effect as long as it is possible that the fetus could develop to the point of live birth with continued application of life-sustaining treatment.

History. Acts 1987, No. 713, § 6; 2003, No. 1322, § 8.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2003, No. 1322, § 6, provided:

“Legislative purpose.

“(a)(1) The General Assembly recognizes that residents of long-term care facilities are among the most vulnerable of the state's citizens.

“(2) Further, the disproportionate number of these residents who are Medicaid eligible, and who have little or no close family involvement in their lives, heightens their vulnerability.

“(b) It is the intent of the General Assembly that, to ensure proper care and treatment of these individuals, particularly at end-of-life, the circumstances and conditions under which the withholding of nutrition, hydration, or both, may occur, be clarified.”