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Illinois Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration

Illinois Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration

Category:

Power of Attorney - Healthcare - Living Wills

State:

Illinois

Control #:

IL-P024

Format:

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About this form

The Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration, often simply called a Declaration, serves as an important legal document that outlines your healthcare preferences in the event you become unable to communicate your wishes due to an incurable or terminal condition. This form differs from a standard Living Will primarily in its statutory recognition, which may vary by jurisdiction. It allows you to express your desire to refuse life-prolonging medical treatments, ensuring that your wishes are respected by family members and healthcare providers during a critical time.

Main sections of this form

Identification of the declarant's name and residence.
Clear directives regarding treatment preferences in the case of a terminal illness.
Provisions for withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging procedures.
Confirmation of the declarant's mental soundness and the presence of witnesses during the signing.
Space for signatures of both the declarant and witnesses to validate the document.

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When this form is needed

This form is essential to use in situations where you wish to communicate your healthcare preferences clearly, especially if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness or have an irreversible medical condition. It is particularly useful for individuals who want to ensure their wishes regarding end-of-life care are known and respected. Using this form can alleviate the emotional burden on family members during critical medical situations and avoid potential conflicts about treatment options.

Who this form is for

This form is suitable for:

Individuals wishing to outline their medical care preferences in advance.
Those who may be facing serious health issues that could impair their ability to communicate.
Family members or caretakers looking for guidance on a loved one's medical treatment wishes.

Steps to complete this form

Identify yourself as the declarant by entering your full name and current address.
Specify your wishes regarding treatment in the event of a terminal illness.
Sign the Declaration in the presence of at least one witness.
Have the witness sign the document, confirming they are not entitled to inherit from you and are of sound mind.
Retain copies for your records and share your wishes with family members and healthcare providers.

Does this document require notarization?

This form does not typically require notarization unless specified by local law. It is essential to check your state's regulations regarding the notarization of living wills or declarations to ensure the form's effectiveness.

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Make edits, fill in missing information, and update formatting in US Legal Forms—just like you would in MS Word.

Download a copy, print it, send it by email, or mail it via USPS—whatever works best for your next step.

Sign and collect signatures with our SignNow integration. Send to multiple recipients, set reminders, and more. Go Premium to unlock E-Sign.

If this form requires notarization, complete it online through a secure video call—no need to meet a notary in person or wait for an appointment.

We protect your documents and personal data by following strict security and privacy standards.

Typical mistakes to avoid

Failing to sign the document properly in the presence of a witness.
Not specifying clear treatment preferences or directives.
Forgetting to provide copies to family members or healthcare providers.

Why complete this form online

Convenience of downloading the form instantly from anywhere.
Editability allows for personal customization to fit specific needs.
Reliable templates designed by licensed legal professionals, ensuring compliance with legal standards.

Legal use & context

Confirms your right to refuse medical treatment in specific situations.
It may be required by hospitals and healthcare providers to access your treatment preferences.
Helps prevent family conflicts regarding medical decisions during critical times.

What to keep in mind

The Declaration is a legally recognized document that outlines your healthcare wishes.
Complete the form correctly to ensure your preferences are honored.
Consult with a healthcare provider or legal professional if you have questions about your wishes and rights.

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FAQ

If you do not have a power of attorney in Illinois, medical decisions may be made by family members as per the state's hierarchy of decision-makers. Without this crucial document, your wishes may not be explicitly honored, leading to potential conflicts during difficult times. It is wise to consider a power of attorney as the Illinois statutory equivalent of a living will or declaration, safeguarding your desires regarding health care.

A living will becomes effective when your primary physician decides that you can no longer make your own healthcare decisions. If you are ill or injured and cannot express your healthcare wishes, and your doctor certifies this fact in writing, your living will takes effect.

A living will is a written, legal document that spells out medical treatments you would and would not want to be used to keep you alive, as well as your preferences for other medical decisions, such as pain management or organ donation. In determining your wishes, think about your values.

Do I Need to Have My Will Notarized? No, in Illinois, you do not need to notarize your will to make it legal.However, Illinois allows your will to be self-proved without a self-proving affidavit, as long as you sign and witness it correctly.

In most cases, your health care documents will be honored in other states.Most states accept health care directives from other states as long as the documents are legally valid in the state where they were made -- but this is not always the case.

A living will is a document that explains whether or not you want to be kept on life support if you become terminally ill and will die shortly without life support, or fall into a persistent vegetative state.A living will becomes effective only when you cannot communicate your desires on your own.

The basic difference between a will and a living will is the time when it is executed. A will takes legal effect upon death. A living will, on the other hand, gives instructions to your family and doctors about what medical treatment you do and don't wish to have, should you become incapacitated.

1. Living Will Rules Vary by State.Most states do accept living wills from other states as long as the document is valid in the state in which it was created, but not all do, so it is important to check when your living will is created.

You do not need a lawyer to make a living will, although you can get one from a lawyer if you prefer to. Every state has its own requirements for making a living will, so if you make one on your own, make sure you find a form that meets your state's requirements.

An Illinois living will is a legal document used during the estate planning process. The purpose of an Illinois living will is to document your wishes related to medical care in the event that you are unable to make your own medical decisions for any reason.

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Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration

STATUTORY REFERENCE

ALL REFERENCES ARE TO THE ILLINOIS COMPILED STATUTES

DECLARATION (LIVING WILL)
(§§ 755 ILCS 35/1 through 755 ILCS 35/9)

755 ILCS 35/1: Purpose. The legislature finds that persons have the fundamental right to control the decisions relating to the rendering of their own medical care, including the decision to have death delaying procedures withheld or withdrawn in instances of a terminal condition. In order that the rights of patients may be respected even after they are no longer able to participate actively in decisions about themselves, the legislature hereby declares that the laws of this State shall recognize the right of a person to make a written declaration instructing his or her physician to withhold or withdraw death delaying procedures in the event of a terminal condition.

755 ILCS 35/2: Definitions:

(a) "Attending physician" means the physician selected by, or assigned to, the patient who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient.
(b) "Declaration" means a witnessed document in writing, voluntarily executed by the declarant in accordance with the requirements of Section 3.
(c) "Health-care provider" means a person who is licensed, certified or otherwise authorized by the law of this State to administer health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession.
(d) "Death delaying procedure" means any medical procedure or intervention which, when applied to a qualified patient, in the judgment of the attending physician would serve only to postpone the moment of death. In appropriate circumstances, such procedures include, but are not limited to, assisted ventilation, artificial kidney treatments, intravenous feeding or medication, blood transfusions, tube feeding and other procedures of greater or lesser magnitude that serve only to delay death. However, this Act does not affect the responsibility of the attending physician or other health care provider to provide treatment for a patient's comfort care or alleviation of pain. Nutrition and hydration shall not be withdrawn or withheld from a qualified patient if the withdrawal or withholding would result in death solely from dehydration or starvation rather than from the existing terminal condition.
(e) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, government, governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal entity.
(f) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in all its branches.
(g) "Qualified patient" means a patient who has executed a declaration in accordance with this Act and who has been diagnosed and verified in writing to be afflicted with a terminal condition by his or her attending physician who has personally examined the patient. A qualified patient has the right to make decisions regarding death delaying procedures as long as he or she is able to do so.
(h) "Terminal condition" means an incurable and irreversible condition which is such that death is imminent and the application of death delaying procedures serves only to prolong the dying process. (Source: P.A. 85-860.)

755 ILCS 35/3: Execution of a Document.

(a) An individual of sound mind and having reached the age of majority or having obtained the status of an emancipated person pursuant to the "Emancipation of Mature Minors Act", as now or hereafter amended, may execute a document directing that if he is suffering from a terminal condition, then death delaying procedures shall not be utilized for the prolongation of his life.
(b) The declaration must be signed by the declarant, or another at the declarant's direction, and witnessed by 2 individuals 18 years of age or older.
(c) The declaration of a qualified patient diagnosed as pregnant by the attending physician shall be given no force and effect as long as in the opinion of the attending physician it is possible that the fetus could develop to the point of live birth with the continued application of death delaying procedures.
(d) If the patient is able, it shall be the responsibility of the patient to provide for notification to his or her attending physician of the existence of a declaration, to provide the declaration to the physician and to ask the attending physician whether he or she is willing to comply with its provisions. An attending physician who is so notified shall make the declaration, or copy of the declaration, a part of the patient's medical records. If the physician is at any time unwilling to comply with its provisions, the physician shall promptly so advise the declarant. If the physician is unwilling to comply with its provisions and the patient is able, it is the patient's responsibility to initiate the transfer to another physician of the patient's choosing. If the physician is unwilling to comply with its provisions and the patient is at any time not able to initiate the transfer, then the attending physician shall without delay notify the person with the highest priority, as set forth in this subsection, who is available, able, and willing to make arrangements for the transfer of the patient and the appropriate medical records to another physician for the effectuation of the patient's declaration. The order of priority is as follows:
(1) any person authorized by the patient to make such arrangements,
(2) a guardian of the person of the patient, without the necessity of obtaining a court order to do so, and
(3) any member of the patient's family.
(e) The declaration may, but need not, be in the following form, and in addition may include other specific directions. Should any specific direction be determined to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other directions of the declaration which can be given effect without the invalid direction, and to this end the directions in the declaration are severable.

755 ILCS 35/4: Recording of a Terminal Condition. Upon determining that the declarant has a terminal condition, the attending physician who knows of a declaration shall record the determination and the terms of the declaration in the declarant's medical record. A physician who records in writing a terminal condition under this Section is presumed to be acting in good faith. Unless it is alleged and proved that his action violated the standard of reasonable professional care and judgment under the circumstances, he is immune from civil or criminal liability that otherwise might be incurred.

755 ILCS 35/5: Revocation.
(a) A declaration may be revoked at any time by the declarant, without regard to declarant's mental or physical condition, by any of the following methods:

(1) By being obliterated, burnt, torn or otherwise destroyed or defaced in a manner indicating intention to cancel;
(2) By a written revocation of the declaration signed and dated by the declarant or person acting at the direction of the declarant; or
(3) By a oral or any other expression of the intent to revoke the declaration, in the presence of a witness 18 years of age or older who signs and dates a writing confirming that such expression of intent was made.

(b) A revocation is effective upon communication to the attending physician by the declarant or by another who witnessed the revocation. The attending physician shall record in the patient's medical record the time and date when and the place where he or she received notification of the revocation.

(c) There shall be no criminal or civil liability on the part of any person for failure to act upon a revocation made pursuant to this Section unless that person has actual knowledge of the revocation.

755 ILCS 35/6: Physician Responsibilities. An attending physician who has been notified of the existence of a declaration executed under this Act, without delay after the diagnosis of a terminal condition of the patient, shall take the necessary steps to provide for written recording of the patient's terminal condition, so that the patient may be deemed to be a qualified patient under this Act, or shall notify the patient or, if the patient is unable to initiate a transfer, the person or persons described in subsection (d) of Section 3 in the order of priority stated therein that the physician is unwilling to comply with the provisions of the patient's declaration.

(755 ILCS 35/7) Sec. 7. Immunity. The desires of a qualified patient shall at all times supersede the effect of the declaration. A physician or other health-care provider may presume, in the absence of knowledge to the contrary, that a declaration complies with this Act and is valid. No physician, health care provider or employee thereof who in good faith and pursuant to reasonable medical standards causes or participates in the withholding or withdrawing of death delaying procedures from a qualified patient pursuant to a declaration which purports to have been made in accordance with this Act shall as a result thereof, be subject to criminal or civil liability, or be found to have committed an act of unprofessional conduct.

755 ILCS 35/8:
(a) Any person who willfully conceals, cancels, defaces, obliterates, or damages the declaration of another without such declarant's consent or who falsifies or forges a revocation of the declaration of another or who willfully fails to comply with Section 6 shall be civilly liable.
(b) Any person who coerces or fraudulently induces another to execute a declaration or falsifies or forges the declaration of another, or willfully conceals or withholds personal knowledge of a revocation as provided in Section 5 with the intent to cause a withholding or withdrawal of death delaying procedures contrary to the wishes of the qualified patient and thereby, because of such act, directly causes death delaying procedures to be withheld or withdrawn and death to another thereby be hastened, shall be subject to prosecution for involuntary manslaughter.
(c) A physician or other health-care provider who willfully fails to notify the health care facility or fails to comply with Section 6 is guilty of engaging in unethical and unprofessional conduct in violation of paragraph (A)(5) of Section 22 of the Medical Practice Act of 1987.
(d) A physician who willfully fails to record the determination of terminal condition in accordance with Section 4, without giving the notice required by Section 6 of his unwillingness to comply with the provisions of the patient's declaration, is guilty of willfully omitting to file or record medical reports as required by law in violation of paragraph (A)(22) of Section 22 of the Medical Practice Act of 1987.
(e) A person who requires or prohibits the execution of a declaration as a condition for being insured for, or receiving, health-care services is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
(f) The penalties provided in this Section do not displace any penalty applicable under other law.

755 ILCS 35/9: General provisions.
(a) The withholding or withdrawal of death delaying procedures from a qualified patient in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide.
(b) The making of a declaration pursuant to Section 3 shall not affect in any manner the sale, procurement, or issuance of any policy of life insurance, nor shall it be deemed to modify the terms of an existing policy of life insurance. No policy of life insurance shall be legally impaired or invalidated in any manner by the withholding or withdrawal of death delaying procedures from an insured qualified patient, notwithstanding any term of the policy to the contrary.
(c) No physician, health care facility, or other health care provider, and no health care service plan, health maintenance organization, insurer issuing disability insurance, self-insured employee welfare benefit plan, non-profit medical service corporation or mutual nonprofit hospital service corporation shall require any person to execute a declaration as a condition for being insured for, or receiving, health care services.
(d) Nothing in this Act shall impair or supersede any legal right or legal responsibility which any person may have to effect the withholding or withdrawal of death delaying procedures in any lawful manner. In such respect the provisions of this Act are cumulative.
(e) This Act shall create no presumption concerning the intention of an individual who has not executed a declaration to consent to the use or withholding of death delaying procedures in the event of a terminal condition.
(f) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to condone, 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 as provided in this Act.
(g) An instrument executed before the effective date of this Act that substantially complies with paragraph (e) of Section 3 shall be given effect pursuant to the provisions of this Act.
(h) A declaration executed in another state in compliance with the law of that state or this State is validly executed for purposes of this Act, and such declaration shall be applied in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

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Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration

STATUTORY REFERENCE

ALL REFERENCES ARE TO THE ILLINOIS COMPILED STATUTES

DECLARATION (LIVING WILL)
(§§ 755 ILCS 35/1 through 755 ILCS 35/9)

755 ILCS 35/2: Definitions:

755 ILCS 35/3: Execution of a Document.

755 ILCS 35/5: Revocation.
(a) A declaration may be revoked at any time by the declarant, without regard to declarant's mental or physical condition, by any of the following methods:

Note: All Information and Previews are subject to the Disclaimer located on the main forms page, and also linked at the bottom of all search results.

Illinois Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration

This form is part of a form package!

About this form

Main sections of this form

Related forms

When this form is needed

Who this form is for

Steps to complete this form

Does this document require notarization?

Get your form ready online

Typical mistakes to avoid

Why complete this form online

Legal use & context

What to keep in mind

Looking for another form?

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Form popularity

FAQ

What happens if you don’t have a power of attorney in Illinois?

How does a living will work and when does it become of legal effect?

What a living will is and how it works?

Does a living will need to be notarized in Illinois?

Are living wills recognized in all states?

What is a living will declaration?

What's the difference between a living will and a regular will?

Are living wills State specific?

Can I write my own living will?

What is a living will Illinois?

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Trusted and secure by over 3 million people of the world’s leading companies

Illinois Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration

This form is part of a form package!

About this form

Main sections of this form

Related forms

When this form is needed

Who this form is for

Steps to complete this form

Does this document require notarization?

Get your form ready online

Typical mistakes to avoid

Why complete this form online

Legal use & context

What to keep in mind

Looking for another form?

Viewed forms

Form popularity

FAQ

What happens if you don’t have a power of attorney in Illinois?

How does a living will work and when does it become of legal effect?

What a living will is and how it works?

Does a living will need to be notarized in Illinois?

Are living wills recognized in all states?

What is a living will declaration?

What's the difference between a living will and a regular will?

Are living wills State specific?

Can I write my own living will?

What is a living will Illinois?

Illinois Statutory Equivalent of Living Will or Declaration Related Searches

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