state living will and advance directives laws
Here you will find state living will and advance directives laws, the actual statutes of each state, that provide the authority for your right to execute a living will and other advance directives:
ALABAMA
ALASKA
ARIZONA (see Ch. 32)
ARKANSAS
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
CONNECTICUT
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
HAWAII
see also Section 327E-3
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
IOWA (enter "144A.3" in search ) Relevant sections continue through "144A.12"
KANSAS (enter "65-28,101" in search) Relevant sections are through 65-28,109
KENTUCKY ( scroll to .621 through .644)
LOUISIANA (1299.58.1 through 1299.58.10)
MAINE
MARYLAND (must type "Advance Directive" in search, then see 5-601 through 5-618) Health-General, "Title 5 -Death" is otherwise hard to locate
MASSACHUSETTS (search "health care proxy"--no statutory provision for living will)
MICHIGAN -no statutory provision for a living will, but see 700.5506(4). Search "patient advocate"-Sec. 700.5506 et seq.)
More on Michigan
MINNESOTA
MISSISSIPPI(search "living will")
MISSOURI
MONTANA
also search" 50-9-201" et seq
NEBRASKA--see 20-401 to 20-416
NEVADA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NEW JERSEY
NEW MEXICO
NEW YORK select law PBH scroll down to Art. 29-B and 29-C (2904-2978; 290 to 2994
NORTH CAROLINA
NORTH DAKOTA scroll to Uniform Rights of Terminally Ill Act 23-06.4 (through 23-06.4-14)
OHIO search 2133.01 to 2133.15
OKLAHOMAscroll to Chptr 60(in black) Ok Rights of Terminally Ill...
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
RHODE ISLAND
State laws may, to a nonlawyer, seem to read the same. But, while similar, each living will law is particular in its definition of terms, and application to specific circumstances. It is further intended for use by its residents.
Looking at Connecticut's laws after the debacle of Terri Shiavo's plight, it is questionable whether the Connecticut living will would have been enough to quell the controversy.
Notice that the Connecticut statutory form does not "speak" as the form is written, if you are found to be minimally aware or minimally conscious, as some of the evidence suggested.
Schiavo's life and death provided a laboratory tool, akin to a microscope, through which each living will law must be examined.
Attorneys and law professors from many states expressed concern that the recommended form is inadequate, as many aspects had become glaringly "gray" under the Schiavo microscope.
The legal battle concerning Schiavo's actual condition may not have been any different in Florida, had Terri Schiavo had a living will. The questions were many, but one central debate was whether she was "minimally conscious" or in a "persistent vegetative state". Notice how "persistent vegetative state" is defined!

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