Delaware Code Title 16. Health and Safety § 3002J. Designation of a lay caregiver

(a) A hospital shall provide a patient or a patient's agent at least 1 opportunity to designate at least 1 lay caregiver under this chapter following the patient's admission into a hospital and before the patient's discharge to a residence.

(b) A hospital shall record the patient's designation of a lay caregiver and the lay caregiver's contact information in the patient's electronic health record maintained by the hospital or in the patient's electronic health record contained in the Delaware Health Information Network.

(c) A hospital shall allow a patient or a patient's agent to change the individual designated as a lay caregiver by the patient or the patient's agent in the event that the individual designated as a lay caregiver becomes unavailable, unwilling, or unable to provide aftercare for the patient.

(d) The designation of an individual as a lay caregiver by a patient or a patient's agent under this chapter does not obligate the individual to accept the role of lay caregiver for the patient.

(e) This chapter may not be construed to require a patient to designate a lay caregiver.

(f) If a patient or a patient's agent declines to designate a lay caregiver under this section, a hospital shall promptly document the refusal to designate a lay caregiver in the patient's medical record.

(g) A hospital may not allow the ability of a patient or a patient's agent to appoint a lay caregiver or the refusal or failure to appoint a lay caregiver by a patient or a patient's agent to interfere with, delay, or otherwise affect the services provided to the patient by the hospital.