Syfert Injury Law Firm

Your Trusted Partner in Personal Injury & Workers' Compensation

Call Now: 904-383-7448

2018 Georgia Code 31-32-2 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 31-32-2 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 31-32-2

TITLE 31 HEALTH

Section 32. Advance Directives for Health Care, 31-32-1 through 31-32-14.

CHAPTER 25 ARTICLES OF BEDDING

31-32-2. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the term:

  1. "Advance directive for health care" means a written document voluntarily executed by a declarant in accordance with the requirements of Code Section 31-32-5.
  2. "Attending physician" means the physician who has primary responsibility at the time of reference for the treatment and care of the declarant.
  3. "Declarant" means a person who has executed an advance directive for health care authorized by this chapter.
  4. "Durable power of attorney for health care" means a written document voluntarily executed by an individual creating a health care agency in accordance with Chapter 36 of this title, as such chapter existed on and before June 30, 2007.
  5. "Health care" means any care, treatment, service, or procedure to maintain, diagnose, treat, or provide for a declarant's physical or mental health or personal care.
  6. "Health care agent" means a person appointed by a declarant to act for and on behalf of the declarant to make decisions related to consent, refusal, or withdrawal of any type of health care and decisions related to autopsy, anatomical gifts, and final disposition of a declarant's body when a declarant is unable or chooses not to make health care decisions for himself or herself. The term "health care agent" shall include any back-up or successor agent appointed by the declarant.
  7. "Health care facility" means a hospital, skilled nursing facility, hospice, institution, home, residential or nursing facility, treatment facility, and any other facility or service which has a valid permit or provisional permit issued under Chapter 7 of this title or which is licensed, accredited, or approved under the laws of any state, and includes hospitals operated by the United States government or by any state or subdivision thereof.
  8. "Health care provider" means the attending physician and any other person administering health care to the declarant at the time of reference who is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to administer health care in the ordinary course of business or the practice of a profession, including any person employed by or acting for any such authorized person.
  9. "Life-sustaining procedures" means medications, machines, or other medical procedures or interventions which, when applied to a declarant in a terminal condition or in a state of permanent unconsciousness, could in reasonable medical judgment keep the declarant alive but cannot cure the declarant and where, in the judgment of the attending physician and a second physician, death will occur without such procedures or interventions. The term "life-sustaining procedures" shall not include the provision of nourishment or hydration but a declarant may direct the withholding or withdrawal of the provision of nourishment or hydration in an advance directive for health care. The term "life-sustaining procedures" shall not include the administration of medication to alleviate pain or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to alleviate pain.
  10. "Living will" means a written document voluntarily executed by an individual directing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures when an individual is in a terminal condition, coma, or persistent vegetative state in accordance with this chapter, as such chapter existed on and before June 30, 2007.
  11. "Physician" means a person lawfully licensed in this state to practice medicine and surgery pursuant to Article 2 of Chapter 34 of Title 43; and if the declarant is receiving health care in another state, a person lawfully licensed in such state.
  12. "Provision of nourishment or hydration" means the provision of nutrition or fluids by tube or other medical means.
  13. "State of permanent unconsciousness" means an incurable or irreversible condition in which the declarant is not aware of himself or herself or his or her environment and in which the declarant is showing no behavioral response to his or her environment.
  14. "Terminal condition" means an incurable or irreversible condition which would result in the declarant's death in a relatively short period of time.

(Code 1981, §31-32-2, enacted by Ga. L. 2007, p. 133, § 2/HB 24.)

Law reviews.

- For note, "An Advance Directive: The Elective, Effective Way to Be Protective of Your Rights," 68 Mercer L. Rev. 521 (2017).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Genuine issues of material fact as to whether medical defendants made good faith effort.

- Trial court properly denied summary judgment to the medical defendants on the immunity question under the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act, O.C.G.A. § 31-32-10(a)(2), because genuine issues of material fact existed regarding whether the defendants made a good faith effort to rely on the directions and decisions of the patient's health care agent under the Advance Directive in carrying out the March 7 intubation. Doctors Hosp. of Augusta, LLC v. Alicea, 332 Ga. App. 529, 774 S.E.2d 114 (2015), aff'd, 299 Ga. 315, 788 S.E.2d 392 (Ga. 2016).

Cases Citing Georgia Code 31-32-2 From Courtlistener.com

Total Results: 10

STATE OF GEORGIA v. SISTERSONG WOMEN OF COLOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE COLLECTIVE

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 2023-10-24

Snippet: misplaced, see Slip Op. at 25-26 (2) (d) (iii); id. at 31-32 (2) (d) (iv), however, the trial court’s ruling (which

Doctors Hospital of Augusta v. Alicea, Admrx.

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 2016-07-05

Citation: 299 Ga. 315, 788 S.E.2d 392, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 448

Snippet: that controls. *323 (b) OCGA § 31-32-2 defines terms that are used in the Advance Directive

Warner v. State

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 2007-03-26

Citation: 642 S.E.2d 821, 281 Ga. 763, 7 Fulton County D. Rep. 915, 2007 Ga. LEXIS 253

Snippet: robbery plan turned deadly. Carter v. State, 272 Ga. 31, 32(2), 526 S.E.2d 855 (2000). Judgments affirmed. All

Cross v. State

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1999-09-13

Citation: 520 S.E.2d 457, 271 Ga. 427, 99 Fulton County D. Rep. 3430, 1999 Ga. LEXIS 665

Snippet: 751 (1961). See also Woodbury v. State, 264 Ga. 31, 32(2), 440 S.E.2d 461 (1994)." Cromartie v. State,

Cromartie v. State

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1999-03-08

Citation: 514 S.E.2d 205, 270 Ga. 780, 99 Fulton County D. Rep. 965, 1999 Ga. LEXIS 262

Snippet: 751 (1961). See also Woodbury v. State, 264 Ga. 31, 32(2), 440 S.E.2d 461 (1994). We find that no prospective

Johnson v. State

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1991-05-10

Citation: 404 S.E.2d 108, 261 Ga. 236, 1991 Ga. LEXIS 212

Snippet: of the Medical College of Georgia. O.C.G.A. § 31-32-2, cited by the defendant, contains a similar requirement

Dinsmore Development Co. v. Cherokee County

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1990-12-03

Citation: 398 S.E.2d 539, 260 Ga. 727, 1990 Ga. LEXIS 468

Snippet: proceedings consistent with this opinion. Id. at 31-32. 2. In light of our holding in the first division

State of Ga. v. McAfee

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1989-11-21

Citation: 385 S.E.2d 651, 259 Ga. 579

Snippet: life-sustaining procedures, would produce death." OCGA § 31-32-2 (10). Subsection (B) imposes the requirement that

Turner v. Collins

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1850-02-15

Citation: 8 Ga. 252

Snippet: originals filed in his office. Supreme Court Manual, 31, 32. [2.] The writ of error in this case has no entry

Austell v. Rice

Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1848-09-15

Citation: 5 Ga. 472

Snippet: 439. 5 M. & W. 551. Chitty on Contracts, 30, 31, 32. 2 Har. & Gill. 114. 2 Bay, 380. 5 Ham. 471. 1 Met