Title 44, Health

Nothing in this chapter may be construed to authorize or approve mercy killing, or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act or omission to end life other than to permit the natural process of dying.

The absence of a declaration by an adult patient does not give rise to a presumption as to his intent to consent to or refuse life-sustaining procedures. This chapter applies only to persons who have executed a declaration in accordance with this chapter. Nothing in this chapter …

(A) If any person coerces or fraudulently induces another person to execute a declaration under this chapter, falsifies or forges a declaration, or wilfully conceals, cancels, obliterates, or destroys a revocation of a declaration, and the declarant dies as a result of the withdr…

As used in this chapter: (1) "Declarant" means a person who has signed a declaration in accordance with Sections 44-77-40 and 44-77-50, in accordance with earlier, current, or future versions of this chapter, or in accordance with the law of another state if the declaration provi…

If a person eighteen years of age or older adopts a declaration that is substantially in the form provided in Section 44-77-50, whether executed before or after an amendment is made to the form, and that on its face is duly executed, witnessed, and authenticated as provided in Se…

A declaration is valid: (1) which expresses substantially in the form set forth in Section 44-77-50 a desire of the declarant that no life-sustaining procedures be used to prolong dying if his condition is terminal or if he is permanently unconscious and states that the declarant…

The declaration must be substantially in the following form with the procedure and requirements for revocation of the declaration appearing either in boldface print or in all upper case letters, the characters in either case being of at least the same size as used in the rest of …

A declarant whose declaration is executed in accordance with earlier versions of this chapter or in accordance with the law of another state may supplement that declaration by executing a document containing the provisions for "Instructions Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hyd…

If a declarant has been diagnosed as pregnant, the Declaration is not effective during the course of the declarant's pregnancy.

The Declaration may be revoked: (1) by being defaced, torn, obliterated, or otherwise destroyed in expression of the declarant's intent to revoke by the declarant or by some person in the presence of and by the direction of the declarant. Revocation by destruction of one or more …

The declarant may indicate in the declaration whether he wants to appoint an agent to act on his behalf in assuring that the declaration is given effect by petitioning the court of common pleas for an order directing providers to withhold or withdraw treatment as provided in the …

After certification of a terminal condition or a state of permanent unconsciousness, any person who relies on a declaration which on its face appears to have been executed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, of which he has no actual notice of revocation, and who w…