144B.3 - REQUIREMENTS.
144B.3 REQUIREMENTS.
1. An attorney in fact shall make health care decisions only if
the following requirements are satisfied:
a. The durable power of attorney for health care explicitly
authorizes the attorney in fact to make health care decisions.
b. The durable power of attorney for health care contains the
date of its execution and is witnessed or acknowledged by one of the
following methods:
(1) Is signed by at least two individuals who, in the presence of
each other and the principal, witnessed the signing of the instrument
by the principal or by another person acting on behalf of the
principal at the principal's direction.
(2) Is acknowledged before a notarial officer within this state.
2. The following individuals shall not be witnesses for a durable
power of attorney for health care:
a. A health care provider attending the principal on the date
of execution.
b. An employee of a health care provider attending the
principal on the date of execution.
c. The individual designated in the durable power of attorney
for health care as the attorney in fact.
d. An individual who is less than eighteen years of age.
3. At least one of the witnesses for a durable power of attorney
for health care shall be an individual who is not a relative of the
principal by blood, marriage, or adoption within the third degree of
consanguinity.
4. A durable power of attorney for health care or similar
document executed in another state or jurisdiction in compliance with
the law of that state or jurisdiction shall be deemed valid and
enforceable in this state, to the extent the document is consistent
with the laws of this state. A durable power of attorney or similar
document executed by a veteran of the armed forces which is in
compliance with the federal department of veterans affairs advance
directive requirements shall be deemed valid and enforceable. Section History: Recent Form
91 Acts, ch 140, §3; 98 Acts, ch 1083, §2