Colorado Updates Its Living Will Statute

On May 12, 2010, the Colorado legislature updated its living will statute, H.B. 1025, 67th Gen. Assem., 2nd Reg. Sess. (Co. 2010). This bill, which is to take effect on August 11, 2010, is summarized below:

Hospice and Palliative Care in Colorado. The bill repeals and reenacts the “Colorado Medical Treatment Decision Act”. The term “artificial nourishment” replaces “artificial nutrition and hydration”, the term “lacking decisional capacity” replaces “incompetent”, and a new term, “persistent vegetative state”, has been added in order to clarify different medical conditions under which the act shall be applied. The options available to the patient when he or she is in a terminal condition, persistent vegetative state, or otherwise lacking decisional capacity are clarified. The bill removes from statute the legal form that the declaration as to medical or surgical treatment may take and makes further clarifications concerning the declaration. Any declaration executed in compliance with Colorado law at the time it was made shall continue to be an effective declaration, and any declaration executed in compliance with the laws of another state shall be considered effective in Colorado, granted that such declaration does not violate any Colorado law.

Special thanks to Michael Kirtland (attorney, Colorado Springs, CO) for bringing this to my attention.