Nevada Statutory Living Will Declaration Law

Living Wills – General – Nevada

Selected Definitions

A “declaration” is a writing executed in accordance with the requirements of NRS 449.600.

A “qualified patient” is a person eighteen or more years of age who has executed a declaration and who has been determined by the attending physician to be in a terminal condition.

“Life sustaining treatment” is a medical procedure or intervention that, when administered to a patient, serves only to prolong the process of dying.

A “terminal condition” is an incurable and irreversible condition that, without the administration of life sustaining treatment, will, in the opinion of the attending physician, result in death within a relatively short time.

Declaration

A person of sound mind and 18 or more years of age may execute a declaration governing the withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment and may designate another natural person of sound mind and 18 or more years of age to make decisions governing the withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment.

The declaration must be signed by the declarant, or another at the declarant’s direction, and attested by two witnesses.

A declaration becomes operative when it is communicated to the attending physician and the declarant is determined by the attending physician to be in a terminal condition and no longer able to make decisions regarding administration of life sustaining treatment. When the declaration becomes operative, the attending physician and other providers of health care shall act in accordance with its provisions and with the instructions of a person designated pursuant to NRS 449.600 to make decisions for the patient.

Form

A declaration is not required to be in the statutory form.

NRS 449.620: Revocation
1. A declarant may revoke a declaration at any time and in any manner, without regard to his mental or physical condition. A revocation is effective upon its communication to the attending physician or other provider of health care by the declarant or a witness to the revocation.

2. The attending physician or other provider of health care shall make the revocation a part of the declarant’s medical record.

Consent By Others

The authority to consent or to withhold consent may be exercised by the following persons, in order of priority:

The spouse of the patient;

An adult child of the patient or, if there is more than one adult child, a majority of the adult children who are reasonably available for consultation;

The parents of the patient;

An adult sibling of the patient or, if there is more than one adult sibling, a majority of the adult siblings who are reasonably available for consultation; or

The nearest other adult relative of the patient by blood or adoption who is reasonably available for consultation.

If a class entitled to decide whether to consent is not reasonably available for consultation and competent to decide, or declines to decide, the next class is authorized to decide, but an equal division in a class does not authorize the next class to decide.

A decision to grant or withhold consent must be made in good faith. A consent is not valid if it conflicts with the expressed intention of the patient.

A decision of the attending physician acting in good faith that a consent is valid or invalid is conclusive.

Pregnancy

Life sustaining treatment must not be withheld or withdrawn pursuant to this section from a patient known to the attending physician to be pregnant so long as it is probable that the fetus will develop to the point of live birth with continued application of life sustaining treatment.

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