Create a North Carolina Living Will with our customizable template!
A North Carolina living will is usually referred to as an advance directive. It is a legal document that provides advance instruction for your family members and healthcare providers on your medical desires. The purpose of completing a North Carolina living will is to document your own decisions related to medical care because of an irreversible condition, advanced dementia, a terminal condition, or other incurable condition. In plain English, it is known as "My Desire for a Natural Death." The document is used if you're unable to make your own medical decisions for any reason. Examples of these decisions include whether you want to use artificial nutrition or hydration, ongoing mental health treatment (if required), or if you have a do not resuscitate order (DNR order). In short, a North Carolina advance directive is an advance care planning tool. After you sign it, it will be followed regardless of whether you are in a nursing home, adult care home, a health facility, or hospice care.
A North Carolina living will is also used to name a healthcare agent. Your healthcare agent will make medical decisions for you. This person must be over 18 years old and they cannot be providing medical care for you in exchange for compensation of some kind. In North Carolina, a living will must be signed by two witnesses and they must have the signature of the notary public. There are specific laws in North Carolina that explain who can and cannot sign a living will as a witness. Your witnesses cannot be related to you by blood or marriage. They must not be your physician, an employee of your physician, an employee of a nursing home or an adult care facility or any health facility that cares for you, or a beneficiary of your estate or named in a codicil of your will as a beneficiary.
Because this advance directive for natural death is a legal document, it is imperative that you understand how it works as well as what it means. You should read it carefully. If you have questions about it, you should seek legal advice. This document is not the same as a health care power of attorney. It does not allow your loved ones to make end-of-life decisions.
§ 90-320 through § 90-323: Here are some of the legal requirements: North Carolina law does not authorize any form of euthanasia, mercy killing, suicide, or assisted suicide. This is used to determine if the declarant wants to use or withdraw life-prolonging measures. The declarant must have initialed their wishes on the form, as well as "I understand my advance directive." Doctors are required to follow the desires expressed by the patient by this document provided that none of the desires break North Carolina law. Before this document is enacted in good faith, the physician must determine with a high degree of medical certainty that the declarant is incapacitated. Future healthcare decisions aren’t the only ones that must be made. The Secretary of State's website provides a free PDF for use on North Carolinan's behalf.
Creating a North Carolina last will and testament can help you express all of your wishes outside of the healthcare realm.
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