This bill amends existing law (RCW 70.122.030) in the Natural Death Act by removing a pregnancy-related sentence from the model Health Care Directive. It is a modification of current statute and model form; it does not create a new crime or change criminal penalties. The bill was prefiled 12/20/24 and read for the first time 01/13/25 and was referred to the Committee on Law & Justice. The amended section retains and restates procedural rules for advance directives: adults may direct withholding or withdrawal of life‑sustaining treatment in a terminal condition or permanent unconscious condition; the directive must be signed and either acknowledged before a notary or comparable official or signed in the presence of two qualified witnesses; specified persons are disqualified from serving as witnesses (relatives by blood or marriage, beneficiaries of the declarant’s estate, attending physicians or their employees, employees of the health facility where the declarant is a patient, or anyone who has a claim against the declarant’s estate). The attending physician must enter in writing the required diagnosis (terminal condition by one physician or permanent unconscious state by two physicians) and make that entry a permanent part of the patient’s medical record before withholding or withdrawing life‑sustaining treatment. The custodian of records must forward a copy of the directive to the health facility when such withholding or withdrawal is contemplated. The model Health Care Directive form remains in the statute with prescribed language and options, including a checkbox about artificially provided nutrition and hydration. The statute continues to provide that directives executed in other jurisdictions are valid in Washington to the extent allowed by Washington law and the U.S. Constitution. The provided materials show only this single section amendment; it is unclear whether the bill contains additional sections, amendments elsewhere, or an effective date.

If enacted, the state model Health Care Directive used under the Natural Death Act would no longer include the pregnancy-related sentence, so people signing the state form and the clinicians and facilities who rely on that form will no longer have that specific pregnancy guidance built into the model document. Practically, pregnant patients completing this directive will not see a pregnancy exception on the form, and health care providers will need to proceed without that model language when making decisions about withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, relying instead on the remaining diagnostic and procedural requirements in the law and any other applicable rules. The bill keeps and clarifies existing operational duties: an attending physician must put the terminal or permanent unconscious diagnosis in writing in the medical record before life-support is withheld or withdrawn, the custodian of records must include a copy of the directive in the patient’s file and forward it to the facility when withholding/withdrawal is contemplated, execution still requires notarization or two qualified witnesses with specified exclusions, and out-of-state directives remain valid as allowed by law. It is not clear from the provided text whether other statutes or forms referring to pregnancy are changed elsewhere or what the effective date of the change would be.