Md. Code, Health - General § 5-610
This is the official text of Md. Code, Health - General § 5-610, part of Maryland’s Code, Health - General — covers public health regulation.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
§5–610.
Official statutory text
(a) Any person who willfully conceals, cancels, defaces, obliterates, or damages the advance directive of another without the declarant’s or patient’s consent or who falsifies or forges a revocation of the advance directive of another, thereby causing life-sustaining procedures to be utilized in contravention of the previously expressed intent of the patient, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or both.
(b) Any person who falsifies or forges the advance directive of another, or falsifies or forges an affidavit under § 5-605 of this subtitle, or willfully conceals or withholds personal knowledge of the revocation of an advance directive with the intent to cause a withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures, contrary to the wishes of the declarant and thereby, because of such act, directly causes life-sustaining procedures to be withheld or withdrawn and death to be hastened, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or both.
(c) The penalties provided in this section shall be in addition to any other penalties provided by law.
(b) Any person who falsifies or forges the advance directive of another, or falsifies or forges an affidavit under § 5-605 of this subtitle, or willfully conceals or withholds personal knowledge of the revocation of an advance directive with the intent to cause a withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures, contrary to the wishes of the declarant and thereby, because of such act, directly causes life-sustaining procedures to be withheld or withdrawn and death to be hastened, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or both.
(c) The penalties provided in this section shall be in addition to any other penalties provided by law.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in Maryland?
Find a Maryland lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.