Montana Title 50. Health and Safety § 50-5-1302. Determination of decisional capacity--use of proxy decisionmaker

(2)(a) The attending health care provider shall make specific findings related to the cause, nature, and projected duration of the patient's lack of decisional capacity. The findings must be included in the patient's medical record.

(b) Health care providers must use evidence-based methodologies for determining decisionmaking capacity. The method used to determine decisionmaking capacity may be selected in collaboration with a medical ethics committee.

(c) Patients with chronic cognitive disabilities may require assessment by health care providers familiar with the patient's specific disability. If available, health care providers familiar with the patient's chronic cognitive disability must be consulted to assess decisionmaking capacity.

(d) Patients for whom English is a second language must be assessed by a health care provider in the presence of an interpreter who is fluent in the patient's primary language. Patients who communicate using American sign language must be assessed in the presence of an interpreter fluent in American sign language.

(a) a guardian with medical decisionmaking authority;

(b) an agent appointed in a medical durable power of attorney; or

(c) any other known person with the legal authority to provide consent or refusal of medical treatment on the patient's behalf.