According to Colorado law, any individual 18 years of age or more and of sound mind may execute a living will declaration governing the withholding of life-sustaining treatment
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In a Living Will called a 'Declaration as to Medical or Surgical Treatment' you do not appoint an agent to make health related decisions for you if you are ill. You need to complete Health Care Power of Attorney |
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In Colorado, a Living Will is called a "Declaration as to Medical or Surgical Treatment". The issuance of a Declaration as to Medical or Surgical Treatment is regulated by Colorado Medical Treatment Decisions Act.
According to Colorado law, any competent adult may execute a declaration directing that life sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn if, at some future time, he/she is in a terminal condition and either unconscious or otherwise incompetent to decide whether any medical procedure or intervention should be accepted or rejected. It is the responsibility of the declarant or someone acting for him to submit the declaration to the attending physician for entry in the declarant's medical record. In the case of a declaration of a qualified patient known to the attending physician to be pregnant, a medical evaluation must be made as to whether the fetus is viable and could with a reasonable degree of medical certainty develop to live birth with continued application of life sustaining procedures. If such is the case, the declaration is given no force or effect. Notwithstanding the provisions of a declaration, when an attending physician has determined that pain results from a discontinuance of artificial nourishment, he may order that such nourishment be provided but only to the extent necessary to provide comfort and alleviate pain. A declaration executed before two witnesses by any competent adult is legally effective. The statutory form is not required. In the event that the declarant is physically unable to sign the declaration, it may be signed by some other person in the declarant's presence and at his direction. A person so signing may not be:
THIS HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE IS NOT VALID UNLESS IT IS SIGNED IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO COMPETENT ADULT WITNESSES. THE FOLLOWING PERSONS MAY NOT ACT AS ONE OF THE WITNESSES: (1) the person designated by the Principal as your agent;(2) a person related to the Principal by blood or marriage; (3) a person entitled to any part of the Principal’s estate after the Principal’s death under a will or codicil executed by the Principal or by operation of law; (4) the Principal’s attending physician; (5) an employee of the Principal’s attending physician; (6) an employee of a health care facility in which the Principal is a patient if the employee is providing direct patient care to the Principal or is an officer, director, partner, or business office employee of the health care facility or of any parent organization of the health care facility; or (7) a person who, at the time this power of attorney is executed, has a claim against any part of the Principal’s estate after his or her death. If the declarant is a patient or resident of a health care facility, no witness can be a patient of that facility. A declaration may be revoked by the declarant orally, in writing, or by burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying said declaration. Decisional capacity is the ability to provide informed consent to or refusal of medical treatment. If there is something you do not understand about this document you should consult an attorney. Before signing this Colorado Declaration as to Medical or Surgical Treatment you need to discuss your treatment with your physician in as many details as possible, and consider types of treatments that you want/do not want to be performed for you when you are unable to express your wishes because of your illness. Please make sure to state clearly particular treatments you want or do not want. This document may not be changed or modified. If you want to make changes in Colorado Declaration as to Medical or Surgical Treatment, you must make an entirely new one. |
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