Statutory Living Will - Declaration
STATUTORY REFERENCE
ALL REFERENCES ARE TO THE KANSAS STATUTES
DECLARATION (That Dying Not be Artificially Prolonged)
(§§ 65-28, 101 through 65-28, 109)
A "declaration" is a witnessed document in writing, voluntarily
executed by the declarant in accordance with the requirements of K.S.A.
65-28,103.
A "life sustaining procedure" is any medical procedure or intervention
which, when applied to a qualified patient, would serve only to prolong
the dying process and where, in the judgment of the attending physician,
death will occur whether or not such procedure or intervention is utilized.
"Life sustaining procedure" does not include the administration of medication
or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to provide
comfort care or to alleviate pain.
A "qualified patient" is a patient who has executed a declaration
in accordance with the statute and who has been diagnosed and certified
in writing to be afflicted with a terminal condition by two physicians
who have personally examined the patient, one of whom shall be the attending
physician.
Any adult person may execute a declaration directing the withholding
or withdrawal of life sustaining procedures in a terminal condition.
The declaration must be:
In writing;
Signed by the person making the declaration, or by another person in
the declarant's presence and by the declarant's expressed direction;
Dated; and either
Signed in the presence of two or more witnesses at least 18 years of
age neither of whom can be the person who signed the declaration on behalf
of and at the direction of the person making the declaration, related to
the declarant by blood or marriage, entitled to any portion of the estate
of the declarant according to the laws of intestate succession of this
state or under any will of the declarant or codicil thereto, or directly
financially responsible for declarant's medical care; or
Acknowledged before a notary public.
The declaration of a patient diagnosed as pregnant by the attending
physician shall have no effect during the course of the patient's pregnancy.
It is the responsibility of declarant to provide for notification
to the declarant's attending physician of the existence of the declaration.
An attending physician who is so notified shall make the declaration, or
a copy of the declaration, a part of the declarant's medical records.
The declaration must be substantially in the statutory form and
may include other specific directions. Should any of the other specific
directions be held 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.
A declaration may be revoked at any time by the declarant by any
of the following methods:
By being obliterated, burnt, torn, or otherwise destroyed or defaced
in a manner indicating intention to cancel;
By a written revocation of the declaration signed and dated by the
declarant or person acting at the direction of the declarant; or
By a verbal expression of the intent to revoke the declaration, in
the presence of a witness eighteen (18) years of age or older who signs
and dates a writing confirming that such expression of intent was made.
Any verbal revocation shall become effective upon receipt by the attending
physician of the above mentioned writing.
The desires of a qualified patient at all times supersede the effect
of the declaration.
If the qualified patient is incompetent at the time of the decision
to withhold or withdraw life sustaining procedures, a declaration executed
in accordance with K.S.A. 65-28,103 is presumed to be valid.
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