Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements in Louisiana

At a glance

Louisiana does not use a specialized health care power-of-attorney act. It uses the Civil Code concept of a mandate: under art. 2989, a principal gives a mandatary authority to transact one or more affairs. For medical decisions, the mandate must say so expressly. Louisiana's medical-consent statute then puts an agent acting under that valid mandate ahead of the patient's spouse and adult children in the decision-making order.

The broad mandate is separate from Louisiana's living will. The living will is a written declaration under the Natural Death Act that controls life-sustaining procedures only after a terminal and irreversible diagnosis. That narrower declaration has a two-witness rule. The general health-care mandate does not.

Requirements one by one

Governing law and document

Civil Code art. 2989 defines the mandate as a contract by which the principal "confers authority on another person, the mandatary, to transact one or more affairs for the principal." Medical authority is not implied by a broad phrase. Under art. 2997(6), authority must be given expressly to "[m]ake health care decisions, such as surgery, medical expenses, nursing home residency, and medication." Louisiana publishes no mandatory statutory form for this mandate.

The separate Natural Death Act declaration may name someone to make a treatment decision when the declarant has a terminal and irreversible condition and cannot communicate (§ 40:1151.2(C)(1)). That designation is much narrower than a general mandate covering health care across illnesses and settings.

Who can sign

Because a mandate is a contract, the Civil Code's capacity rule applies. Art. 1918 says that "[a]ll persons have capacity to contract" except unemancipated minors, interdicts, and people deprived of reason at the time of contracting. Louisiana therefore does not impose a separate health-care-document capacity test beyond contractual capacity.

Witnesses or notary

For the broad health-care mandate, neither is required. Art. 2993 says, "The contract of mandate is not required to be in any particular form." No separate health-care provision adds a signature, date, witness, acknowledgment, or notary requirement to the mandate recognized by § 40:1159.4(A)(3).

The common source of confusion is the living will. A written declaration about life-sustaining procedures "shall be signed by the declarant in the presence of two witnesses" (§ 40:1151.2(A)(2)). Those witnesses validate that separate terminal-condition declaration; they are not the execution rule for a general health-care mandate.

When the agent can act

Louisiana does not make the mandate springing by statute. Its terms control, and art. 3026 supplies durability by default: neither the mandate nor the mandatary's authority ends because of the principal's "incapacity, disability, or other condition" unless the parties agreed otherwise.

That does not let an agent override a patient who can decide. In the consent priority at § 40:1159.4(A), "[a]ny adult, for himself" comes first, while an agent under a valid health-care mandate is listed after a court-appointed tutor or curator. The mandate survives incapacity; the competent patient's own choice still controls while the patient can consent.

Agent's powers and limits

The document must expressly grant health-care authority. Art. 2997(6) gives the practical examples: surgery, medical expenses, nursing-home residency, and medication. Once the agent is entitled to act, § 40:1159.4(A) authorizes consent, orally or otherwise, to surgical or medical treatment and procedures, including autopsy, so long as the act is not prohibited by law. The document can define narrower authority; the statute does not turn a limited grant into an unlimited one.

How to revoke

Under art. 3025, "[t]he principal may terminate the mandate and the authority of the mandatary at any time." Revocation also has a notice problem: art. 3028 requires the principal to notify third persons with whom the agent was authorized to act. For a health-care mandate, that means telling the providers and facilities that might otherwise continue relying on the document.

Louisiana's general automatic-termination list in art. 3024 covers death, interdiction of the mandatary, and qualification of a curator after the principal's interdiction. It does not list divorce from a spouse-agent. If a former spouse should no longer serve, revoke or replace the appointment rather than assuming the divorce did it.

Out-of-state directives

Louisiana applies a general contract-form rule to an out-of-state mandate. Art. 3538 says a contract is valid as to form if it complies with the law of the state where it was made, among several alternatives, subject to a Louisiana public-policy form requirement. The separate living-will statute is even more explicit: § 40:1151.9(D) deems a declaration properly executed under another state's laws validly executed for Louisiana's Natural Death Act.

What trips people up

• The two-witness rule belongs to the living will, not the broad mandate. A Louisiana mandate needs no particular form under art. 2993. The two witnesses in § 40:1151.2(A)(2) validate a terminal-condition declaration.
• A generic power of attorney is not enough. Health-care decisions are on art. 2997's list of powers that must be granted expressly. Name the medical authority rather than relying on a catch-all clause.
• Durable does not mean springing. Art. 3026 means incapacity does not cancel the authority. It does not create a physician-certification trigger; use the mandate's own terms to say when the agent should begin acting.
• Revocation should reach the hospital, not just the agent. Art. 3028 places the notice burden on the principal. A provider unaware of the revocation may keep treating the old mandate as operative.

Common questions

Do I need a Louisiana living will in addition to the health-care mandate? Not to appoint a general health-care agent. The mandate supplies the broad decision-maker. A Natural Death Act declaration is a separate way to record directions about life-sustaining procedures in a terminal and irreversible condition (§ 40:1151.2).

Does divorce automatically remove my former spouse as agent? Louisiana's general mandate-termination list does not say that it does. Art. 3024 lists death, interdiction of the mandatary, and qualification of a curator after the principal's interdiction. Use art. 3025's express termination right to remove a former spouse.

Will losing capacity cancel the mandate? No, unless the mandate says otherwise. Art. 3026 makes the authority durable by default, so incapacity, disability, or another condition making revocation impractical does not terminate it.

Statutes and sources

• La. Civ. Code art. 1918 — contractual capacity and its exceptions. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=109165 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 2989 — definition of a mandate. https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=110025 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 2993 — no particular form required for a mandate. https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110030 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 2997 — express authority required for health-care decisions. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110034 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. R.S. 40:1159.4 — medical-consent priority and the agent acting under a valid mandate that specifically authorizes health-care decisions. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=964700 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 3024 — general automatic-termination events. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110066 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 3025 — principal may terminate the mandate at any time. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110067 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 3026 — incapacity does not terminate the mandate by default. https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110068 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 3028 — notice to third persons after revocation. https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110070 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. Civ. Code art. 3538 — contract valid as to form under the law of the state of making and other listed alternatives. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110558 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. R.S. 40:1151.2 — separate terminal-condition declaration, two-witness rule, and optional designation of a treatment decision-maker. https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=964664 (accessed 2026-07-16)
• La. R.S. 40:1151.9 — recognition of an out-of-state declaration. https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=964679 (accessed 2026-07-16)