Statutory Document Concerning the Appointment of Health Care Representative
ALL REFERENCES ARE TO THE GENERAL STATUTES OF CONNECTICUT
REMOVAL OF LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS
(Including Appointment of Health Care Agent)
(§§ 19a-570 through 19a-580c)
A "life support system" is any medical procedure or intervention
which, when applied to an individual, would serve only to postpone the
moment of death or maintain the individual in a state of permanent unconsciousness.
In these circumstances, such procedures include, but are not limited to,
mechanical or electronic devices including artificial means of providing
nutrition or hydration.
A "terminal condition" is the final stage of an incurable or irreversible
medical condition which, without the administration of a life support system,
will result in death within a relatively short time, in the opinion of
the attending physician.
"Permanently unconscious" is a when a person is in a permanent
coma and persistent vegetative state and is an irreversible condition in
which the individual is at no time aware of himself or the environment
and shows no behavioral response to the environment.
A "health care agent" means an adult person to whom authority to
convey health care decisions is delegated in a written document by another
adult person, known as the principal.
"Incapacitated" is being unable to understand and appreciate the
nature and consequences of health care decisions, including the benefits
and disadvantages of such treatment, and to reach and communicate an informed
decision regarding the treatment.
A "living will" is a written statement in compliance with section
19a-575a containing a declarant's wishes concerning any aspect of his health
care, including the withholding or withdrawal of life support systems.
The provisions of §§ 19a-571 to 19a-573, inclusive, 19a-575
and 19a-575a do not apply to a pregnant patient.
Any person eighteen years of age or older may execute a document
which contains directions as to specific life support systems which that
person chooses to have administered. The document must be signed and dated
by the maker with at least two witnesses. The statutory form is not
mandatory.
Any person eighteen years of age or older may execute a document
which contains health care instructions, the appointment of a health care
agent, the appointment of an attorney-in-fact for health care decisions,
the designation of a conservator of the person for future incapacity and
a document of anatomical gift. Such a document must be signed and dated
by the maker with at least two witnesses. The statutory form is not
mandatory.
Any person eighteen years of age or older may appoint a health care
agent by executing a document in accordance with §19a-575a or
§19a-577, signed and dated by that person in the presence of two adult
witnesses who must also sign the document. The person appointed as agent
cannot act as witness to the execution of the document or sign the document.
For persons who reside in facilities operated or licensed by the
Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, at least one witness
must be an individual who is not affiliated with the facility and at least
one witness must be a physician or clinical psychologist with specialized
training in treating mental illness.
For persons who reside in facilities operated or licensed by the
Department of Mental Retardation, at least one witness must be an individual
who is not affiliated with the facility and at least one witness must be
a physician or clinical psychologist with specialized training in developmental
disabilities.
An operator, administrator, or employee of a hospital, residential
care home, rest home with nursing supervision, or chronic and convalescent
nursing home may not be appointed as a health care agent by any person
who, at the time of the appointment, is a patient or a resident of, or
has applied for admission to, one of the foregoing facilities. An administrator
or employee of a government agency which is financially responsible for
a person's medical care may not be appointed as a health care agent for
such person. This restriction does apply if such operator, administrator
or employee is related to the principal by blood, marriage or adoption.
A physician may not act as both agent for a principal and attending
physician for the principal.
The statutory form is not mandatory.
A living will or appointment of health care agent becomes operative
when the document is furnished to the attending physician and the declarant
is determined by the attending physician to be incapacitated.
A living will or appointment of health care agent may be revoked
at any time and in any manner by the declarant without regard to the declarant's
mental or physical condition. Unless the principal specifies otherwise,
the appointment of the principal's spouse as health care agent is revoked
upon the divorce or legal separation of the principal and spouse or upon
the annulment or dissolution of their marriage.
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