Title: Section 800.15 - Required conduct

800.15 Required conduct. Every person certified at any level pursuant to this Part or Article 30 of the Public Health Law shall:

(a) comply with prehospital practice standards, applicable for the geographic region of the State in which the individual is practicing, as established by:

(1) State-approved training curricula and State-approved training standards, in accordance with section 800.20 of this Part;

(2) State-approved protocols developed by State and/or Regional Medical Advisory Committees pursuant to sections 3002-a and 3004-a of the Public Health Law; and

(3) Scope of Practice as defined in Section 800.3; and

(b) maintain, at all times, the confidentiality of any and all patient information to which the certificate holder has access concerning patients alive or deceased, including, but not limited to, patient names, conditions, treatments, descriptions, communications, images or other identifying features, irrespective of whether the patient’s name is included, which may be transmitted by electronic or other media, except:

(1) when a certificate holder is acting as part of an organized pre-hospital emergency medical service, the certificate holder responsible for patient care shall accurately complete a pre-hospital care report in a department-approved format for each patient with whom the certificate holder makes patient contact, and shall provide a copy to the hospital receiving the patient and/or to the department’s authorized agent for use in the State’s quality assurance program; or

(2) when authorized by the patient and/or the patient’s representative, the certificate holder may reveal patient information to the extent necessary to collect insurance payments due; or

(3) when and to the extent otherwise authorized by law; and

(c) comply with the terms of a Medical Order of Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST), as defined by Article 29-CC of the Public Health Law, form or a non-hospital Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) form, when the patient, family, or other caretaker or person on the scene provides such an order issued on a standard department-issued form, or, when the patient is wearing on his/her person a department-developed DNR bracelet or necklace identifying the patient as one for whom a non-hospital DNR order has been issued, with the following exceptions:

(1) emergency medical services personnel may disregard a non-hospital Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order as defined by Article 29-B of the Public Health Law, when:

(i) possessed of a good faith belief that the order has been revoked or that the order has been canceled; or

(ii) family members or others on the scene, excluding emergency medical services personnel, object to the order and a physical confrontation appears likely; and

(2) Hospital emergency service physicians may direct emergency medical services personnel to disregard a non-hospital Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order if other significant and exceptional medical circumstances warrant disregarding the order; and

(d) not be subjected to criminal prosecution or civil liability, or be deemed to have engaged in unprofessional conduct, for honoring reasonably and in good faith pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section, a non-hospital order not to resuscitate (non-hospital DNR), for disregarding such order pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (c) of this section, or for other actions reasonably taken in good faith pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section.