Revocation of Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration
STATUTORY REFERENCE
ALL REFERENCES ARE TO THE IOWA CODE
REVOCATION OF DECLARATION (That Life Not Be Prolonged By Artificial Procedures)
(§§ 144A.1 through 144A.12)
An "adult" is an individual eighteen years of age or older.
A "declaration" is a document executed in accordance with the requirements
of section 144A.3.
A "health care provider" is a person who is licensed, certified,
or otherwise authorized or permitted by the law of this state to administer
health care in the ordinary course of business or in the practice of a
profession.
A "life sustaining procedure" is any medical procedure, treatment,
or intervention which meets both of the following requirements:
Utilizes mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant
a spontaneous vital function.
When applied to a patient in a terminal condition, would serve only
to prolong the dying process.
"Life sustaining procedure" does not include the provision of nutrition
or hydration except when required to be provided parenterally or through
intubation or the administration of medication or performance of any medical
procedure deemed necessary to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.
A "qualified patient" is a patient who has executed a declaration
and who has been determined by the attending physician to be in a terminal
condition.
A "terminal condition" is an incurable or irreversible condition
that, without the administration of life sustaining procedures, will, in
the opinion of the attending physician, result in death within a relatively
short period of time or a state of permanent unconsciousness from which,
to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, there can be no recovery.
A competent adult may execute a declaration at any time directing
that life sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn. The declaration
will be given operative effect only if the declarant's condition is determined
to be terminal and the declarant is not able to make treatment decisions.
The declaration must be signed by the declarant or another person
acting on behalf of the declarant at the direction of the declarant, must
contain the date of its execution, and must be witnessed or acknowledged
by one of the following methods:
Is signed by at least two individuals who, in the presence of each
other and the declarant, witnessed the signing of the declaration by the
declarant or by another person acting on behalf of the declarant at the
declarant's direction. At least one of the witnesses must be an individual
who is not a relative of the declarant by blood, marriage, or adoption
within the third degree of consanguinity. The following individuals may
not be witnesses for a declaration:
-A health care provider attending the declarant on the date of execution.
-An employee of a health care provider attending the declarant on the
date of execution.
-An individual who is less than eighteen years of age.
Is acknowledged before a notarial officer within this state.
A declaration may be revoked at any time and in any manner by which
the declarant is able to communicate the declarant's intent to revoke,
without regard to mental or physical condition.
A revocation is only effective as to the attending physician upon
communication to such physician by the declarant or by another to whom
the revocation was communicated.
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