III. LIVING WILLS AND HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES
Arizona Revised Statutes, Public Health and Safety, 36-3201 et seq.,
added 1992.
Arizona has added a law allowing Health Care Surrogates, a Health
Care Power of Attorney (as one possible way of appointing a health care
surrogate), Prehospital Care Directives, and Living Wills. The law is
fairly sweeping and should increase the ability of someone in Arizona to
determine his health care.
It allows you to state whether or not you consent to an autopsy (this
is very weak, though, since it does not limit the options of the coroner).
And there is one other interesting paragraph that spells out a situation
that has been handled informally locally in many locales:
"36-3207 C. If a patient's death follows the withholding or withdrawing
of any medical care pursuant to a surrogate's decision not expressly
precluded by the patient's health care directive, that death does not
constitute a homicide or a suicide and does not impair or invalidate an
insurance policy, an annuity or any other contract that is conditioned on
the life or death of the patient regardless of any terms of that
contract."
