P.R. Laws tit. 24, § 3653

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 3653. Statement of will

The statement of will authorized herein shall meet the following requirements:

(a) It shall contain the express will of the declarant ordering the physician or health service institution that keeps him/her under its care and attend to his/her bodily needs while the declarant is suffering a terminal health condition or a persistent vegetative state, to abstain from submitting him/her to any or a specific medical treatment that can only artificially prolong the imminent process of death. Likewise, it may state any other order pertaining to his/her medical care, whose viability shall be professionally evaluated by the physicians in charge of his/her treatment.

(b) It shall be in writing, signed and sworn before a notary public by means of a document or testimony, or before a person authorized to authenticate signatures in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, who shall state therein the fact of having determined with the declarant the voluntary nature of said statement. Likewise, the declarant may make said statements in the presence of a physician and two (2) other competent witnesses who are not heirs of the declarant, and who do not participate in the direct care of the patient.

(c) The considered opinion of the authenticator and the witnesses shall be stated in the document that certifies said will, as well as the date, time [and] place of the execution of the statement.

History —Nov. 17, 2001, No. 160, § 4.