Living Will and Advance Health-Care Instruction Requirements in Kansas

At a glance

Kansas uses a standalone Natural Death Act declaration, separate from the health-care power of attorney in K.S.A. 58-625–632. §§ 65-28,101 and 38-101 frame the adult's right to make the written treatment declaration and Kansas's general age of majority. The declaration statute says "adult" without defining the term; § 38-101 generally extends minority to age 18.

Requirements one by one

The declaration is dated, written, and witnessed or notarized

Under § 65-28,103(a), the adult signs personally or directs another person to sign in the adult's presence. The declaration must be dated and use one of two routes: at least two witnesses age 18 or older, or acknowledgment before a notary public.

Every witness must be independent. A witness cannot be the directed signer, a blood or marriage relative, an intestate or will beneficiary, or someone directly financially responsible for the declarant's medical care. The Act does not separately disqualify a provider or facility employee from witnessing.

The statutory form is substantially required

The declaration must substantially follow § 65-28,103(c), although the adult may add specific directions. An invalid added direction is severable if the rest can operate without it. The form recites that the adult is of sound mind, acts willfully and voluntarily, understands the declaration, and is emotionally and mentally competent.

The trigger is a two-physician terminal certification

Under § 65-28,102, a qualified patient has a compliant declaration and a terminal condition diagnosed and certified in writing by two physicians who personally examined the patient, one of them the attending physician. The covered procedure must only prolong dying, and the attending physician must judge that death will occur whether or not the procedure is used.

The Act has no separate permanent-unconsciousness or incapacity certification. The form describes its use in the absence of the patient's ability to direct care, but § 65-28,106 makes the capable qualified patient's current desires supersede the declaration at all times.

Comfort care remains; feeding is not a separate statutory choice

The declaration directs withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures. § 65-28,102(c) excludes medication and medical procedures needed for comfort care or pain relief from that term, and the form directs natural dying with that care maintained.

The Act does not separately define artificial nutrition or hydration, deem it included or excluded, or print a separate feeding election. Any added feeding instruction therefore is not one of the Natural Death Act's standard choices.

What trips people up

• Pregnancy suspends the declaration categorically. Under § 65-28,103(a), once the attending physician diagnoses a qualified patient as pregnant, the declaration has no effect during the course of the pregnancy. The statute does not condition that suspension on viability or possible live birth.
• Oral revocation needs a witness's writing. § 65-28,104 permits verbal revocation only before an adult witness who signs and dates a confirming writing. It becomes effective when the attending physician receives that writing and records the time, date, and place.
• The patient bears the initial notice responsibility. § 65-28,103(b) places responsibility on the declarant to notify the attending physician. The physician then adds the declaration or a copy to the medical record and, after a terminal diagnosis, promptly arranges the written certification required by § 65-28,105.

Common questions

Do I need both witnesses and a notary? No. § 65-28,103(a) allows either at least two qualified witnesses or a notarial acknowledgment.

Does permanent unconsciousness alone activate the declaration? No separate permanent-unconsciousness route appears. The Act requires the two-physician written terminal-condition certification in § 65-28,102(e).

Can I revoke by simply telling my doctor? Not by an unconfirmed oral statement alone. A verbal revocation requires an adult witness's signed and dated confirmation, and it takes effect when the attending physician receives that writing (§ 65-28,104).

Will a Kansas provider transfer me if unwilling to comply? The refusing attending physician must transfer the qualified patient to another physician. Failure both to comply and transfer is unprofessional conduct (§ 65-28,107).

Statutes and sources

• Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 65-28,101 and 38-101 — adult right to declare and age of majority. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-28,102 — declaration, life-sustaining procedure, and qualified-patient definitions. Same official source (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-28,103 — execution, witnesses or notary, pregnancy, notice, and statutory form. Same source (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-28,104 — three revocation methods and physician record notation. Same source (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-28,105 — prompt written terminal certification. Same source (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-28,106 — current patient wishes and good-faith immunity. Same source (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Kan. Stat. Ann. § 65-28,107 — refusal, transfer, and penalties. Same source (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 65-28,108 and 65-28,109 — cumulative effect, no presumption, and natural-dying boundary. Same source (accessed 2026-07-31).