Alaska to Prohibit Unilateral DNR Orders

The purpose of Alaska S.B. 172, on which there was a 90-minute hearing yesterday, "is to provide for the protection of a patient’s right to prevent a physician from issuing a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order on the patient without the expressed consent of that patient, or if the patient lacks capacity, without the expressed consent of the authorized agent of the patient, or, if no one is available or known to be authorized to speak for the patient and the patient lacks capacity, without the concurrence of a second physician."