The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2024 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 18 : Health
Chapter 231 : Advance Directives for Health Care, Disposition of Remains, and Surrogate Decision Making
Subchapter 001 : ADVANCE DIRECTIVES AND DISPOSITION OF REMAINS
(Cite as: 18 V.S.A. § 9715)-
§ 9715. Interpretation with other laws
(a) The withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment from a principal who has executed an advance directive limiting the provision of life sustaining treatment shall not be construed as a suicide.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit or abrogate an individual’s ability to create a document of anatomical gift pursuant to chapter 110 of this title.
(c) Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted to affect the statutory or common law in existence at the time of enactment applicable to death intentionally hastened through the use of prescription medication. Professionally appropriate use of medication to relieve suffering which may have the unintended effect of hastening death is not death intentionally hastened through the use of prescription medication.
(d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit the effect of a DD Form 93 (Record of Emergency Data) properly executed by a current or former member of the armed forces of the United States described in 10 U.S.C. § 1481(a). (Added 2005, No. 55, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2005; amended 2009, No. 119 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 2011, No. 80 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. April 13, 2012.)
