Title 7, Human Health Care and Safety.

When a vacancy develops on the Commission, the Mayor may appoint a successor to fill the unexpired portion of a term.

The Commission shall develop its own rules of procedure, except they shall provide that the Commission shall meet at least every other month.

The Commission shall select its own Chairperson, by vote.

All members shall serve without compensation, but expenses incurred by the Commission as a whole, or by its individual members, when duly authorized, will become an obligation against appropriate District government and federal funds designated for that purpose.

Necessary staff services shall be supplied in accordance with positions and funding approved in the current District government budget. In addition, the Director of the Department of Aging and Community Living shall provide information and technical assistance as required under §…

The Commission on Aging shall: (a)(1) Serve as an advocate for older persons in the District of Columbia; (2) Review and submit to the Mayor, the Council of the District of Columbia, and the Department of Aging and Community Living, an annual report including comments on the anal…

The Mayor shall submit biannual reports to the Council, no later than 30 days after the end of the 2nd and 4th quarters of each fiscal year, beginning October 1, 2017, on programs and operations within the Department of Aging and Community Living. Each report shall include the fo…

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) “District” means the District of Columbia. (2) “Eligible person” means an individual who is 60 years of age or older or is mentally or physically ill, infirm, or has a disability. (3) “Service credit” means the unit of exchange u…

(a) Within 8 months after September 13, 1986, the Mayor shall establish a 3-year pilot volunteer service credit program (“program”) through which individuals may volunteer targeted services and in return earn service credits that may be subsequently exchanged for targeted service…

Targeted services shall consist of those tasks that the Mayor has determined will foster the independence, self-sufficiency, and noninstitutionalized living of eligible persons and shall fall within the following categories: (1) Those tasks, such as respite care, personal groomin…

(a) To initiate the program, the Mayor shall establish a pool of service credits to be awarded to eligible persons who are in need of targeted services. The Mayor may award credits to eligible persons directly from this pool or may distribute all or part of these credits to spons…

(a) To ensure that outstanding service credits are promptly honored when exchanged for targeted services, the Mayor and each sponsor shall develop contingency plans and engage in diligent volunteer recruitment. Except as otherwise provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this secti…

Each sponsor shall have an advisory committee composed of persons skilled in the provision of targeted services and persons who represent or advocate the interests of eligible persons. An advisory committee shall monitor the sponsor’s compliance with program requirements, make re…

In addition to the volunteer service credit program, the Mayor may establish service credit demonstration projects, such as an intergenerational service program involving recipients who would not otherwise qualify as “eligible persons” under § 7-531.01(2). Services provided throu…

Volunteers shall not, by virtue of their participation in the program or a demonstration project, be entitled to monetary compensation or considered for any purpose to be employees or agents of either the District or a sponsor. Sponsors may reimburse volunteers for necessary expe…

With respect to their participation in the program or a demonstration project, the District government and its agencies, officials, and employees and sponsors and their advisory committees, officials, and employees shall be immune from civil or criminal liability if they have act…

The Mayor shall, within 8 months after September 13, 1986, and pursuant to subchapter I of Chapter 5 of Title 2, issue all rules necessary to carry out the purposes of this subchapter. These rules may include, but shall not necessarily be limited to, standards and procedures with…

The Mayor shall prepare and submit to the Council annual reports on the volunteer service credit program and any demonstration projects established under § 7-531.07. These reports shall at a minimum include: (1) A description of the participating population, including the number …

(a) For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) "Accessibility modification" means the construction or modification of a principal place of residence to enable or increase independent living for a person with a disability or who is 60 years of age or more. (2) "Disability"…

The Mayor is authorized to enter into and execute on behalf of the District the Interstate Physical Therapy Licensure Compact with any state or states legally joining therein, in the form substantially as follows: Sec. 2. PREAMBLE (a) To establish the Interstate Physical Therapy …

An individual who has sustained either: (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions; or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem; is dead. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted me…

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) “Attending physician” means the physician selected by, or assigned to, the patient who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient. (2) “Declaration” means a witnessed document in writing, voluntarily exe…

(a) Any persons 18 years of age or older may execute a declaration directing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures from themselves should they be in a terminal condition. The declaration made pursuant to this subchapter shall be: (1) In writing; (2) Signed b…

A declaration shall have no effect if the declarant is a patient in an intermediate care or skilled care facility as defined in the Health Care Facilities Regulation, enacted June 14, 1974 (Reg. 74-15; 20 DCR 1423 ) at the time the declaration is executed unless 1 of the 2 witnes…

(a) A declaration may be revoked at any time only by the declarant or at the express direction of the declarant, without regard to the declarant’s mental state by any of the following methods: (1) By being obliterated, burnt, torn, or otherwise destroyed or defaced by the declara…

(a) An attending physician who has been notified of the existence of a declaration executed under this subchapter, without delay after the diagnosis of a terminal condition of the declarant, shall take the necessary steps to provide for written certification and confirmation of t…

(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 pres…

(a) No physician, licensed health care professional, health facility, or employee thereof who in good faith and pursuant to reasonable medical standards causes or participates in the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining procedures from a qualified patient pursuant to a d…

(a) The withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures from a qualified patient in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter shall not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide and shall not constitute the crime of assisting suicide. (b) The making of a declaration …

(a) Nothing in this subchapter shall impair or supersede any legal right or legal responsibility which any person may have to effect the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures in any lawful manner. In such respect the provisions of this subchapter are cumulative.…

Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to condone, authorize, or approve mercy-killing or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act or omission to end a human life other than to permit the natural process of dying as provided in this subchapter.

For the purposes of this chapter, the term: (1) "Attending physician" shall have the same meaning as provided in § 7-621(1); provided, that the attending physician's practice shall not be primarily or solely composed of patients requesting a covered medication. (2) "Capable" mean…

(a) To request a covered medication, a patient shall: (1) Make 2 oral requests, separated by at least 15 days, to an attending physician. (2) Submit a written request, signed and dated by the patient, to the attending physician before the patient makes his or her 2nd oral request…

(a) Upon receiving a written request for a covered medication pursuant to § 7-661.02(a)(2), the attending physician shall: (1) Determine that the patient: (A) Has a terminal disease; (B) Is capable; (C) Has made the request voluntarily; and (D) Is a resident of the District of Co…

(a) If, in the opinion of the attending physician or the consulting physician, a patient may be suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder or depression causing impaired judgment, either physician shall refer the patient to counseling. (b) No covered medication shall …

(a) An attending physician may not prescribe or dispense a covered medication, unless: (1) The patient has satisfied the requirements of §§ 7-661.02 and 7-661.04, if applicable; (2) The attending physician has satisfied the requirements of §§ 7-661.03 and 7-661.04, if applicable;…

(a) The attending physician shall document and file in the medical record of the patient requesting a covered medication: (1) All oral requests by a patient for a covered medication; (2) All written requests by a patient for a covered medication; (3) The attending physician's: (A…

(a) Beginning one year after February 18, 2017, and on an annual basis thereafter, the Department shall review the records maintained under § 7-661.06 for the purpose of gathering data and ensuring compliance with this chapter. (b) The Department shall generate and make available…

(a) A provision in a contract, will, or other agreement executed on or after February 18, 2017, whether written or oral, is not valid if the provision would affect whether a person may make or rescind a request for a covered medication. (b) An obligation owing under any contract,…

(a) The sale, procurement, or issuance of any life, health, accident insurance, annuity policy, employment benefits, or the rate charged for any policy may not be conditioned upon or affected by the making or rescinding of a qualified patient's request for a covered medication. (…

(a) No health care provider shall be obligated under this chapter, by contract, or otherwise, to participate in the provision of a covered medication to a qualified patient. (b) If a health care provider is unable or unwilling to carry out a patient's request for a covered medica…

(a) Except as provided in § 7-661.10, no person shall be subject to civil or criminal liability or professional disciplinary action for: (1) Participating in good faith compliance with this chapter; (2) Refusing to participate in providing a covered medication under this chapter;…

If the District government incurs costs resulting from the death of a qualified patient ingesting a covered medication pursuant to this chapter in a public place, the District government shall have a claim against the estate of the qualified patient to recover such costs and reas…

(a) A person who, without authorization of the patient, willfully alters or forges a request for a covered medication or conceals or destroys a rescission of a request for a covered medication with the intent or effect of causing the patient's death is punishable as a Class A fel…

(a) The Mayor, pursuant to subchapter I of Chapter 5 of Title 2, shall issue rules to: (1) Develop the form to collect the medical record information required by § 7-661.06; (2) Facilitate the collection of the medical record information required by § 7-661.06; and (3) Provide fo…

(a) Nothing in this chapter may be construed to authorize a physician or any other person to end a patient's life by lethal injection, mercy killing, active euthanasia, or any other method or medication not authorized under this chapter. (b) Actions taken in accordance with this …