Washington State allows adults to create and revoke a directive to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment, also known as a Health Care Directive.  This is different from a Mental Health Advance Directive, which will be discussed in a future post, and a POLST, which is a form completed by a medical professional that contains medical orders. Even though these forms are all different, it is important for a person to coordinate all of them.

Health Care Directives allow a person to specify what he or she would like to happen with life-sustaining treatment if he or she is diagnosed with a terminal condition, or permanent unconscious condition, and using life-sustaining treatment would only artificially prolong that person’s death.

Washington statute has a general form that may be changed and/or added to. It is in RCW 70.122.030, or you can click here to view it. The form in the statute allows a person to specify whether he or she wish to receive artificial nutrition and hydration. Examples of additions that some people make are whether he or she wish to receive CPR and/or antibiotic therapy.

In order for a Health Care Directive to be effective, it must be signed by the person making the Health Care Directive (the “declarer”) and either notarized or witnessed by two witnesses.  The witnesses may not be related (through blood or marriage) to the declarer; may not be entitled to any portion of the declarer’s estate (through law or will) if the declarer were to pass away at the time the directive is made; may not be the declarer’s attending physician or attending physician’s employee; may not be an employee at a health facility where the declarer is a patient; and may not be a person who has a claim against the estate of the declarer. With all of the restrictions on who may witness a Health Care Directive, it is usually best to have it notarized by an unrelated and disinterested notary.

Once the Health Care Directive is executed, the declarer should give the Health Care Directive to his or her medical provider. The Health Care Directive will then become a part of the declarer’s/patient’s medical records. Should a declarer wish to change his or her Health Care Directive, he or she would revoke his or her Health Care Directive and execute a new one along with giving the new Health Care Directive to his or her medical provider.

This post is only a discussion of Health Care Directives, and it is not intended to provide any legal advice.  If you have any questions about Health Care Directives as they relate to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.