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Current as of January 02, 2024 | Updated by FindLaw Staff
The declaration may be substantially in the following form, but not to the exclusion of other written and clear expressions of intent to accept, refuse, or withdraw medical care:
LIVING WILLI, __________, willfully and voluntarily make known my desire that my dying shall not be artificially prolonged under the circumstances set forth below, and do hereby declare:
If at any time I should have a terminal condition and my attending physician has determined there is no reasonable medical expectation of recovery and which, as a medical probability, will result in my death, regardless of the use or discontinuance of medical treatment implemented for the purpose of sustaining life, or the life process, I direct that medical care be withheld or withdrawn, and that I be permitted to die naturally with only the administration of medications or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to provide me with comfortable care or to alleviate pain.
ARTIFICIALLY PROVIDED NOURISHMENT AND FLUIDS:By checking the appropriate line below, I specifically:
___ Authorize the withholding or withdrawal of artificially provided food, water or other nourishment or fluids.
___ DO NOT authorize the withholding or withdrawal of artificially provided food, water or other nourishment or fluids.
ORGAN DONOR CERTIFICATION:Notwithstanding my previous declaration relative to the withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures, if as indicated below I have expressed my desire to donate my organs and/or tissues for transplantation, or any of them as specifically designated herein, I do direct my attending physician, if I have been determined dead according to Tennessee Code Annotated, § 68-3-501(b), to maintain me on artificial support systems only for the period of time required to maintain the viability of and to remove such organs and/or tissues. By checking the appropriate line below, I specifically:
___ Desire to donate my organs and/or tissues for transplantation.
___ Desire to donate my __________. (Insert specific organs and/or tissues for transplantation).
___DO NOT desire to donate my organs or tissues for transplantation.
In the absence of my ability to give directions regarding my medical care, it is my intention that this declaration shall be honored by my family and physician as the final expression of my legal right to refuse medical care and accept the consequences of such refusal.
The definitions of terms used herein shall be as set forth in the Tennessee Right to Natural Death Act, Tennessee Code Annotated, § 32-11-103.
I understand the full import of this declaration, and I am emotionally and mentally competent to make this declaration.
In acknowledgment whereof, I do hereinafter affix my signature on this the __________ day of __________, 20___.
_________________________________________________ | |
Declarant |
We, the subscribing witnesses hereto, are personally acquainted with and subscribe our names hereto at the request of the declarant, an adult, whom we believe to be of sound mind, fully aware of the action taken herein and its possible consequence.
We, the undersigned witnesses, further declare that we are not related to the declarant by blood or marriage; that we are not entitled to any portion of the estate of the declarant upon the declarant's decease under any will or codicil thereto presently existing or by operation of law then existing; that we are not the attending physician, an employee of the attending physician or a health facility in which the declarant is a patient; and that we are not persons who, at the present time, have a claim against any portion of the estate of the declarant upon the declarant's death.
_________________________________________________ | |
Witness | |
_________________________________________________ | |
Witness |
STATE OF TENNESSEE
COUNTY OF __________
Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by __________, the declarant, and subscribed and sworn to before me by __________ and __________, witnesses, this __________ day of __________, 20___.
_________________________________________________ | |
Notary Public |
My Commission Expires:
__________
Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Tennessee Code Title 32. Wills § 32-11-105 - last updated January 02, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-32-wills/tn-code-sect-32-11-105.html
FindLaw Codes may not reflect the most recent version of the law in your jurisdiction. Please verify the status of the code you are researching with the state legislature or via Westlaw before relying on it for your legal needs.
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