Iowa Code 144A.3 – Declaration relating to use of life-sustaining procedures
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1. A competent adult may execute a declaration at any time directing that life-sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn. The declaration shall 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.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 144A.3
- Adult: means an individual eighteen years of age or older. See Iowa Code 144A.2
- Attending physician: means the physician selected by, or assigned to, the patient who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient. See Iowa Code 144A.2
- Declaration: means a document executed in accordance with the requirements of section 144A. See Iowa Code 144A.2
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
- Health care provider: means a person, including an emergency medical care provider, 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. See Iowa Code 144A.2
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: means a natural person. See Iowa Code 154A.1
- Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery in this state. See Iowa Code 144A.2
- State: means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See Iowa Code 152E.3
2. 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 the declaration’s execution, and must be witnessed or acknowledged by one of the following methods:
a. 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 shall 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 shall not be witnesses for a declaration:
(1) A health care provider attending the declarant on the date of execution of the declaration.
(2) An employee of a health care provider attending the declarant on the date of execution of the declaration.
(3) An individual who is less than eighteen years of age.
b. Is acknowledged before a notarial officer within this state as provided in chapter 9B.
3. It is the responsibility of the declarant to provide the declarant’s attending physician or health care provider with the declaration. An attending physician or health care provider may presume, in the absence of actual notice to the contrary, that the declaration complies with this chapter and is valid.
4. A declaration or similar document executed in another state or jurisdiction in compliance with the law of that state or jurisdiction shall be deemed valid and enforceable in this state, to the extent the declaration or similar document is consistent with the laws of this state. A declaration or similar document executed by a veteran of the armed forces which is in compliance with the federal department of veterans affairs advance directive requirements shall be deemed valid and enforceable.
5. A declaration executed pursuant to this chapter may, but need not, be in the following form:
DECLARATION
If I should have an incurable or irreversible condition that will result either 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, it is my desire that my life not be prolonged by the administration of life-sustaining procedures. If I am unable to participate in my health care decisions, I direct my attending physician to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures that merely prolong the dying process and are not necessary to my comfort or freedom from pain.