What's happening
This bill allows adults to indicate a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order on their New York driver's license or state ID.
Why it matters
Expands personal autonomy by allowing adults to make their end-of-life wishes about resuscitation clearly known through a widely carried form of identification, potentially making those wishes more easily recognized in emergencies.
Creates a standardized, state-sanctioned process for consenting to a DNR order, which could reduce confusion or disputes among emergency responders, healthcare providers, and family members during critical moments.
Provides clear instructions and safeguards on consent—such as not allowing minors to opt-in and ensuring non-selection is not interpreted as consent—helping to protect vulnerable individuals and clarify intent.
May have significant implications for emergency medical protocols statewide, requiring EMS, hospital, and home care personnel to honor a DNR marked on a driver’s license or state ID, thus embedding end-of-life preferences into the legal framework for first responders.
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Who cares
Headline styles
DNR Option on State IDs
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
3 Multi-sponsors
History
- Referred to transportation
- Referred to transportation
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Add DNR Option to Licenses
In Senate Committee · Health · Sponsor Daphne Jordan
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2194
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 22, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the public health law and the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to establishing do not resuscitate orders on drivers' licenses and identification cards
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 2994-bb of the public health law, as added by chapter 8 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
2. A nonhospital order not to resuscitate may be issued (a) during hospitalization to take effect after hospitalization, [or may be issued] (b) for a person who is not a patient in, or a resident of, a hospital, (c) on an application or renewal form of a driver's license, or (d) on a non-driver identification card application or renewal form.
§ 2. Section 2994-cc of the public health law is amended by adding a new subdivision 6 to read as follows:
6. An adult with decision-making capacity may consent to a nonhospital order not to resuscitate on an application or renewal form of a driver's license or on a non-driver identification card application or renewal form. Consent shall be governed by sections four hundred ninety and five hundred two of the vehicle and traffic law.
§ 3. The opening paragraph of section 2994-ee of the public health law, as added by chapter 8 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
Obligation to honor a nonhospital order not to resuscitate. Emergency medical services personnel, home care services agency personnel, hospice personnel, or hospital emergency services personnel who are provided with a nonhospital order not to resuscitate, [or] who identify the standard bracelet on the patient's body, or who identify a nonhospital order not to resuscitate on an individual's driver's license or non-driver
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01204-01-9
A. 2194 2
identification card shall comply with the terms of such order; provided, however, that:
§ 4. Section 490 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
2-a. Order to not resuscitate designation. The commissioner shall ensure that space is provided on the application so that the applicant may consent to or decline a nonhospital order not to resuscitate pursuant to section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-cc of the public health law and that the following is stated on the application in clear and conspicuous type:
"You must fill out the following section: Would you like to consent to a do-not-resuscitate order which directs emergency medical services personnel, home care services agency personnel, hospice personnel and hospital emergency services personnel not to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event that you suffer cardiac or respiratory arrest? Check box for 'yes' or 'skip this question'."
Failure to check a "yes" or checking "skip this question" shall not be construed to imply a wish to consent to an order not to resuscitate. In the case of an applicant under eighteen years of age, checking "yes" shall not constitute consent to an order not to resuscitate. Where an applicant has previously consented to an order not to resuscitate, checking "skip this question" or failing to check a box shall not impair that consent.
§ 5. Section 502 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
1-a. Order to not resuscitate designation. The commissioner shall ensure that space is provided on the application so that the applicant may consent to or decline a nonhospital order not to resuscitate pursuant to section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-cc of the public health law and that the following is stated on the application in clear and conspicuous type:
"You must fill out the following section: Would you like to consent to a do-not-resuscitate order which directs emergency medical services personnel, home care services agency personnel, hospice personnel and hospital emergency services personnel not to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event that you suffer cardiac or respiratory arrest? Check box for 'yes' or 'skip the question'."
Failure to check a "yes" or checking "skip the question" shall not be construed to imply a wish to consent to an order not to resuscitate. In the case of an applicant under eighteen years of age, checking "yes" shall not constitute consent to an order not to resuscitate. Where an applicant has previously consented to an order not to resuscitate, checking "skip this question" or failing to check a box shall not impair that consent.
§ 6. Subdivision 1 of section 504 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new paragraph (a-2) to read as follows:
(a-2) Every license or renewal thereof shall contain a distinguishing mark and adequate space upon which consent to a nonhospital order not to resuscitate pursuant to section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-cc of the public health law, by the licensee shall be recorded and shall contain such other information and shall be issued in such form as the commissioner shall determine; provided, however, every license or renewal thereof issued to a person consenting to a nonhospital order not to resuscitate shall have prominently printed upon the front of such license or renewal thereof the statement "D.N.R." in notably distinctive print or format.
A. 2194 3
§ 7. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law; provided that the commissioner of motor vehicles may implement sections four, five, and six of this act before that date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
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