Section 31-39-3. Patient presumed to consent to administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation; patient's order not to resuscitate; health care facilities not required to expand to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation

   (a) Every patient shall be presumed to consent to the administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event of cardiac or respiratory arrest, unless there is consent or authorization for the issuance of an order not to resuscitate. Such presumption of consent does not presume that every patient shall be administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but rather that every patient agrees to its administration unless it is medically futile.

(b) Every adult shall be presumed to have the capacity to make a decision regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation unless determined otherwise in writing in the patient's medical record pursuant to this Code section or pursuant to a court order. When an order not to resuscitate is requested by an adult with decision-making capacity, such order shall be presumed, unless revoked pursuant to Code Section 31-39-6, to be the direction of such person regarding resuscitation.

(c) Nothing in this chapter shall require a health care facility, any other facility, or a health care provider to expand its existing equipment and facilities to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Code 1981, § 31-39-3, enacted by Ga. L. 1991, p. 1853, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 672, § 1.