Revocation of Statutory Equivalent of Living Will - Health Care Directive
STATUTORY REFERENCE
ALL REFERENCES ARE TO THE REVISED CODE OF WASHINGTON
REVOCATION OF HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE
General Information (RCW §70.122.020):
A health care "directive" is a written document voluntarily executed
by the declarant generally consistent with statutory guidelines.
"Life sustaining treatment" is any medical or surgical intervention
that uses mechanical or other artificial means, including artificially
provided nutrition and hydration, to sustain, restore, or replace a vital
function, which, when applied to a qualified patient, would serve only
to prolong the process of dying. "Life sustaining treatment" does
not include the administration of medication or the performance of
any medical or surgical intervention deemed necessary solely to alleviate
pain.
A "permanent unconscious condition" is an incurable and irreversible
condition in which the patient is medically assessed within reasonable
medical judgment as having no reasonable probability of recovery from an
irreversible coma or a persistent vegetative state.
A "qualified patient" is an adult person who is a patient diagnosed
in writing to have a terminal condition by the patient's attending physician
who has personally examined the patient or a patient who is diagnosed in
writing to be in a permanent unconscious condition in accordance with accepted
medical standards by two physicians, one of whom is the patient's attending
physician, and both of whom have personally examined the patient.
A "terminal condition" is an incurable and irreversible condition
caused by injury, disease, or illness, that, within reasonable medical
judgment, will cause death within a reasonable period of time in accordance
with accepted medical standards, and where the application of life sustaining
treatment serves only to prolong the process of dying.
The Directive (RCW §70.122.030)
An adult person may execute a directive directing the withholding
or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment in a terminal condition or permanent
unconscious condition. The directive must be signed by the declarant
in the presence of two witnesses not related to the declarant by blood
or marriage and who would not be entitled to any portion of the estate
of the declarant upon the declarant's death under any will of the declarant
or codicil thereto, or, at the time of the directive, by operation of law.
A witness to a directive may not be the attending physician, an employee
of the attending physician or a health facility in which the declarant
is a patient, or any person who has a claim against any portion of the
estate of the declarant.
The directive or a copy of the directive must be made part of the
patient's medical records retained by the attending physician.
Form (RCW §70.122.030)
The directive may be in the form provided by statute and may include
additional instruction not provided for by statute.
Revocation (RCW §70.122.040)
A directive may be revoked at any time by the declarant without
regard to the declarant's mental state or competency, and may be revoked by
any of the following methods:
- By being canceled, defaced, obliterated, burned, torn, or otherwise
destroyed by the declarant or by some person in the declarant's presence and
by the declarant's direction;
- By a written revocation of the declarant expressing the declarant's intent
to revoke, signed, and dated by the declarant (this revocation becomes
effective upon communication to the attending physician by the declarant
or by a person acting on behalf of the declarant. The attending physician
shall record in the patient's medical record the time and date when said
physician received notification of the written revocation); or
- By a verbal expression by the declarant of the declarant's intent to revoke
the directive (this revocation becomes effective only upon communication
to the attending physician by the declarant or by a person acting on behalf
of the declarant. The attending physician shall record in the patient's
medical record the time, date, and place of the revocation and the time,
date, and place, if different, of when said physician received notification
of the revocation).
If a declarant becomes comatose or is rendered incapable of communicating
with the attending physician, the directive remains in effect for the duration
of the comatose condition or until such time as the declarant's condition
renders the declarant able to communicate with the attending physician.
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