(210 ILCS 91/10)

Sec. 10. Opportunity to designate a caregiver.

(a) A hospital shall provide each patient or, if applicable, the patient's legal representative with an opportunity to designate a caregiver following the patient's admission into the hospital as an inpatient and prior to the patient's discharge to the patient's residence or transfer to another facility.

(b) In the event that a patient is unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, the hospital shall provide the patient or the patient's legal representative with an opportunity to designate a caregiver within a timeframe deemed appropriate by the attending physician or other licensed health care provider.

(c) If a patient or legal representative declines to designate a caregiver pursuant to this Act, the hospital shall document this declination in the patient's medical record and has no further responsibilities under this Act.

(d) If a patient or the patient's legal representative designates an individual as a caregiver under this Act, the hospital shall record the patient's designation of caregiver, the relationship of the designated caregiver to the patient, and the name, telephone number, and address of the patient's designated caregiver in the patient's medical record.

(e) A patient may elect to change his or her designated caregiver at any time, and the hospital must record this change in the patient's medical record and thereafter treat the newly named person as the designated caregiver.

(f) A designation of a caregiver by a patient or the patient's legal representative does not obligate any individual to provide any after care for the patient.

(g) This Section shall not be construed to require a patient or a patient's legal representative to designate an individual as a caregiver under this Act.

(Source: P.A. 99-222, eff. 1-27-16.)