According to North Carolina law, any individual 18 years of age or more and of sound mind may execute a Living Will Declaration governing the withholding of life-sustaining treatment
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In your Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death you may address other important health care issues such as: cardiac resuscitation, organ donation, or state your personal values with regards to the end of life decisions |
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In North Carolina statutory Living Will is called a Declaration for a Desire for a Natural Death.
According to North Carolina law every person has a right to a natural death and may execute a legal document governing the withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment. If a person has declared a desire that his life not be prolonged by extraordinary means or by artificial nutrition or hydration, these extraordinary means could be withheld when two conditions are met: (1) It is determined by the attending physician that the declarant's present condition is: a. Terminal and incurable; or b.; Diagnosed as a persistent vegetative state; and (2) There is confirmation of the declarant's present condition by a physician other than the attending physician. The attending physician may rely upon a signed, witnessed, dated and proved declaration, or a copy of that declaration obtained from the Advance Health Care Directive Registry maintained by the Secretary of State pursuant to Article 21 of Chapter 130A of the General Statutes; A Living Will Declaration expresses a desire of the declarant that extraordinary means or artificial nutrition or hydration not be used to prolong his life if his condition is determined to be terminal and incurable, or if the declarant is diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state; and states that the declarant is aware that the declaration authorizes a physician to withhold or discontinue the extraordinary means or artificial nutrition or hydration; A Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death has to be signed by the declarant in the presence of two witnesses who believe the declarant to be of sound mind and who state that they:
No person shall be required to sign a declaration as a condition for becoming insured under any insurance contract or for receiving any medical treatment. The withholding or discontinuance of extraordinary means and/or the withholding or discontinuance of either artificial nutrition or hydration, or both in accordance with this section shall not be considered the cause of death for any civil or criminal purposes nor shall it be considered unprofessional conduct. Any person, institution or facility against whom criminal or civil liability is asserted because of conduct in compliance with this section may interpose this section as a defense. Any certificate in the form provided prior to July 1, 1979, shall continue to be valid. The determination that a person is dead shall be made by a physician licensed to practice medicine applying ordinary and accepted standards of medical practice. Brain death, defined as irreversible cessation of total brain function, may be used as a sole basis for the determination that a person has died, particularly when brain death occurs in the presence of artificially maintained respiratory and circulatory functions. This specific recognition of brain death as a criterion of death of the person shall not preclude the use of other medically recognized criteria for determining whether and when a person has died. Registration. You may register your Advance Health Care Directive with the Secretary of State, but you are not required by law to do so. If there is something you do not understand about this legal document you should consult an attorney. Before signing this North Carolina Living Will (Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death) you need to discuss your treatment with your physician in as many details as possible, and consider types of treatments that you want/do not want to be performed for you when you are unable to express your wishes because of your illness. Please make sure to state clearly particular treatments you want or do not want. |
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