2006 Utah Code - 75-2-1104 — Directive for medical services.

     75-2-1104.   Directive for medical services.
     (1) A person 18 years of age or older may execute a directive under this part. The directive is binding upon attending physicians and all other providers of medical services.
     (2) The directive shall be:
     (a) in writing;
     (b) signed by the declarant or by another person in the declarant's presence and by the declarant's expressed direction;
     (c) dated; and
     (d) signed in the presence of two or more witnesses 18 years of age or older.
     (3) Neither of the witnesses may be:
     (a) the person who signed the directive on behalf of the declarant;
     (b) related to the declarant by blood or marriage;
     (c) entitled to any portion of the estate of the declarant according to the laws of intestate succession of this state or under any will or codicil of the declarant;
     (d) directly financially responsible for the declarant's medical care; or
     (e) any agent of any health care facility in which the declarant is a patient at the time the directive is executed.
     (4) The directive shall be in substantially the following form or in a form substantially similar to the form approved by prior Utah law:
DIRECTIVE TO PHYSICIANS AND PROVIDERS OF MEDICAL SERVICES
(Pursuant to Section 75-2-1104, UCA)
     This directive is made this _____ day of __________, ______.
     1. I, __________, being of sound mind, willfully and voluntarily make known my desire that my life not be artificially prolonged by life-sustaining procedures except as I may otherwise provide in this directive.
     2. I declare that if at any time I should have an injury, disease, or illness, which is certified in writing to be a terminal condition or persistent vegetative state by two physicians who have personally examined me, and in the opinion of those physicians the application of life-sustaining procedures would serve only to unnaturally prolong the moment of my death and to unnaturally postpone or prolong the dying process, I direct that these procedures be withheld or withdrawn and my death be permitted to occur naturally.
     3. I expressly intend this directive to be a final expression of my legal right to refuse medical or surgical treatment and to accept the consequences from this refusal which shall remain in effect notwithstanding my future inability to give current medical directions to treating physicians and other providers of medical services.
     4. I understand that the term "life-sustaining procedure" includes artificial nutrition and hydration and any other procedures that I specify below to be considered life-sustaining but does not include the administration of medication or the performance of any medical procedure which is intended to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain:
______________________________________________________________________________