DE SB 274
enactedAN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 AND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DELAWARE MEDICAL ORDERS FOR SCOPE OF TREATMENT.
Delaware · 2025-2026 Regular Session (153rd General Assembly) · upper
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Quick answers
Did DE SB 274 pass?
Yes. DE SB 274 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-08): Signed by Governor
What is DE SB 274 about?
Enacted in 2015, Chapter 25A of Title 16, the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment Act created a voluntary process and a document that can used by patients with serious illness or frailty to provide direction to emergency care personnel regarding the patient's preferences in regard to scope of care and treatment. This Act changes the name "Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (DMOST)" under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to "Delaware Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)" to align with the national effort to create a uniform form. This Act contains a savings provision so that the name change under this Act does not affect the validity or effect of DMOST forms. This Act also revises Chapter 25A of Title 16 as follows: • Repeals requirements that conflict with the national model law regarding a patient’s ability to limit the future authority of the patient’s authorized representative to modify the orders in the patient’s POLST form. • Allows any health-care practitioner authorized under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to complete a POLST form to find that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. Under existing law, all practitioners who are licensed and authorized to write medical orders under Title 24 may complete POLST forms but only physicians can determine that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. This change is consistent with the capacity provisions under Chapter 25 of Title 16, the recently enacted Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act. • Requires that a health-care practitioner document their finding that a patient lacks decision-making capacity in the patient’s medical record. • Clarifies the existing requirement that a patient’s authorized representative may not execute a POLST form for a patient unless the patient’s lack of decision-making capacity is documented in the patient’s medical record. Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including corresponding name changes to other Code sections that reference the DMOST form. In § 2718(c)(5) of Title 21, the name for an advance health-care directive under Chapter 25 of Title 16 is also corrected.
Who sponsors DE SB 274?
Claire Snyder-Hall, Eric Morrison, Spiros Mantzavinos and 2 others are the primary sponsors of DE SB 274.
Description
Enacted in 2015, Chapter 25A of Title 16, the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment Act created a voluntary process and a document that can used by patients with serious illness or frailty to provide direction to emergency care personnel regarding the patient's preferences in regard to scope of care and treatment. This Act changes the name "Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (DMOST)" under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to "Delaware Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)" to align with the national effort to create a uniform form. This Act contains a savings provision so that the name change under this Act does not affect the validity or effect of DMOST forms. This Act also revises Chapter 25A of Title 16 as follows: • Repeals requirements that conflict with the national model law regarding a patient’s ability to limit the future authority of the patient’s authorized representative to modify the orders in the patient’s POLST form. • Allows any health-care practitioner authorized under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to complete a POLST form to find that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. Under existing law, all practitioners who are licensed and authorized to write medical orders under Title 24 may complete POLST forms but only physicians can determine that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. This change is consistent with the capacity provisions under Chapter 25 of Title 16, the recently enacted Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act. • Requires that a health-care practitioner document their finding that a patient lacks decision-making capacity in the patient’s medical record. • Clarifies the existing requirement that a patient’s authorized representative may not execute a POLST form for a patient unless the patient’s lack of decision-making capacity is documented in the patient’s medical record. Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including corresponding name changes to other Code sections that reference the DMOST form. In § 2718(c)(5) of Title 21, the name for an advance health-care directive under Chapter 25 of Title 16 is also corrected.
- Introduced
- 2026-04-09
- Latest action
- 2026-09-08 — Signed by Governor
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Sponsors
- Claire Snyder-Hallprimary
- Eric Morrisonprimary
- Spiros Mantzavinosprimary
- Dave G. Lawsonprimary
- Marie Pinkneyprimary
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2026-09-08
Signed by Governor
executive-signature
2026-06-24
Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 1 NO 3 ABSENT
passage
2026-06-17
Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 1 Favorable, 9 On Its Merits
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-05-13
Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House
introduction,referral-committee
2026-05-12
Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
passage
2026-05-05
Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-04-09
Introduced and Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate
introduction,referral-committee
Versions
- Bill TextCompare
Documents
Votes
SM
2026-05-12 · pass · 21-0
Member-level votes (21)
- Darius J. Brown: yes
- Eric Buckson: yes
- Daniel Cruce: yes
- Stephanie L. Hansen: yes
- Gerald W. Hocker: yes
- Kyra L. Hoffner: yes
- Russell Huxtable: yes
- Dave G. Lawson: yes
- S. Elizabeth Lockman: yes
- Spiros Mantzavinos: yes
- Trey Paradee: yes
- Brian Pettyjohn: yes
- Marie Pinkney: yes
- Nicole Poore: yes
- Bryant L. Richardson: yes
- Ray Seigfried: yes
- David P. Sokola: yes
- Laura V. Sturgeon: yes
- Bryan Townsend: yes
- John "Jack" Walsh: yes
- David L. Wilson: yes
SM
2026-06-24 · pass · 37-1
Member-level votes (41)
- Alonna Berry: yes
- Stephanie T. Bolden: yes
- Frank Burns: yes
- William Bush: yes
- William J. Carson: yes
- Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha: other
- Richard G. Collins: yes
- Franklin D. Cooke: yes
- Daniel B. Short: yes
- Timothy D. Dukes: yes
- Mara Gorman: yes
- Ronald E. Gray: yes
- Krista Griffith: yes
- Kerri Evelyn Harris: yes
- Debra Heffernan: yes
- Kevin S Hensley: other
- Jeff Hilovsky: no
- Valerie Jones Giltner: yes
- Kendra Johnson: yes
- Kimberly Williams: yes
- Kamela T Smith: yes
- Larry Lambert: yes
- Sean M. Lynn: yes
- Michael F. Smith: yes
- Melissa Minor-Brown: yes
- Shannon Morris: yes
- Eric Morrison: yes
- DeShanna U Neal: yes
- Josue O Ortega: yes
- Edward S. Osienski: yes
- Sophie Phillips: other
- Charles S Postles Jr.: yes
- Cyndie Romer: yes
- Melanie Ross Levin: yes
- Sherae'a Moore: yes
- Bryan W. Shupe: yes
- Claire Snyder-Hall: yes
- Jeffrey N. Spiegelman: yes
- Jesse R. Vanderwende: yes
- Madinah Wilson-Anton: yes
- Lyndon D. Yearick: yes
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-09-12T06:12:39.675219Z
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