Colorado § 15-18.5-101 Legislative declaration - construction of statute

Colorado Statutes

§ 15-18.5-101 — Legislative declaration - construction of statute

Colorado § 15-18.5-101

Title 15Probate,

Art.Proxy and Surrogate Decision-makers for

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Bluebook

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-18.5-101 (2026).

Text

(1)The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that:

(a)All adult persons have a fundamental right to make their own medical treatment and health-care benefit decisions, including decisions regarding medical treatment, artificial nourishment and hydration, and private or public health-care benefits;

(b)The lack of decisional capacity to provide informed consent to or refusal of medical treatment should not preclude such decisions from being made on behalf of a person who lacks such decisional capacity and who has no known advance medical directive, or whose wishes are not otherwise known; and

(c)The enactment of legislation to authorize proxy decision-makers to make medical treatment decisions and surrogate decision-makers to make health-care benefit decisio

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(1) The
general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that:

(a) All adult persons have a fundamental right to make their own medical
treatment and health-care benefit decisions, including decisions regarding medical
treatment, artificial nourishment and hydration, and private or public health-care
benefits;

(b) The lack of decisional capacity to provide informed consent to or refusal
of medical treatment should not preclude such decisions from being made on
behalf of a person who lacks such decisional capacity and who has no known
advance medical directive, or whose wishes are not otherwise known; and

(c) The enactment of legislation to authorize proxy decision-makers to make
medical treatment decisions and surrogate decision-makers to make health-care
benefit decisions on behalf of persons lacking the decisional capacity to provide
informed consent to or refusal of medical treatment is appropriate.

(2) The general assembly does not intend to encourage or discourage any
particular medical treatment or to interfere with or affect any method of religious
or spiritual healing otherwise permitted by law.

(3) Nothing in this article shall be construed as condoning, authorizing, or
approving euthanasia or mercy killing. In addition, the general assembly does not
intend that this article be construed as permitting any affirmative or deliberate act
to end a person's life, except to permit natural death as provided by this article.