Living Will and Advance Health-Care Instruction Requirements in Wyoming
At a glance
| Governing law and document | Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act, Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-22-401 to -416. 'Advance health care directive' means individual instruction, health-care POA, or both; 'individual instruction' is direction about individual's own health-care decision (§ 35-22-402). No codified fill-in form. Treatment instruction remains distinct from agent appointment, psychiatric directive, CPR directive, and POLST |
|---|---|
| Who may make an instruction | Adult OR emancipated minor may give instruction (§ 35-22-403(a)). Capacity means ability to understand significant benefits, risks, alternatives and make/communicate decision (§ 35-22-402(a)(iv)); presumed unless primary physician certifies lack in writing (§ 35-22-412(b)). No directed-signer rule is needed for oral instruction; chapter states none for written instruction alone |
| Oral, written, and signature form | Instruction may be oral or written and limited to take effect on specified condition (§ 35-22-403(a)). No signature, date, delivery, acknowledgment, witness, notary, or electronic-specific requirement for instruction alone. Writing/signature and notary-or-witness rules in § 35-22-403(b) apply to health-care POA, not standalone instruction |
| Witness, notary, and disqualifications | No witness or notary for standalone individual instruction (§ 35-22-403(a)). Notary OR 2-witness verification and provider/agent/care-facility witness bars in § 35-22-403(b)–(c) govern health-care POA only. Do not import those execution blocks—or any unrelated/non-heir witness rule, which Wyoming does not have—into instruction-only validity |
| Covered conditions and trigger | No universal incapacity, terminal, permanent-unconsciousness, or clinician trigger; maker may state instruction now or condition it (§ 35-22-403(a)). Unless written directive specifies otherwise, primary physician determines capacity/recovery or other condition affecting instruction; treating primary health-care provider may decide if physician unavailable (§ 35-22-403(e)). Capable individual's current decision remains controlling (§ 35-22-412(a)) |
| Treatment, nutrition, hydration, and comfort | Instruction may direct any health-care decision, including provide/withhold/withdraw artificial nutrition/hydration and all other care (§ 35-22-402(a)(ix), (xi)). Artificial nutrition/hydration includes tube/IV food or water but excludes assisted spoon/bottle feeding (§ 35-22-402(a)(iii)). Act prints no preset terminal/PVS/pain choices. Provider may refuse medically ineffective or generally accepted-standard-conflicting care (§ 35-22-408(f)) |
| Pregnancy and other statutory limits | Health Care Decisions Act §§ 35-22-401 to -416 state no pregnancy-specific suspension, viability, or live-birth test. Act does not authorize mercy killing, assisted suicide, euthanasia, or care prohibited by other Wyoming statutes (§ 35-22-414(c)); involuntary mental-health treatment and psychiatric directives remain under separate law (§ 35-22-414(e)). Existing CPR directive stays effective unless advance directive specifically revokes it (§ 35-22-414(f)) |
| Revocation, notice, and registry | Individual WITH capacity may revoke instruction anytime/in any manner communicating intent; oral revocation must ASAP be documented in signed, dated writing by individual or witness (§ 35-22-404(b)). Later conflicting directive revokes earlier to conflict. Informed provider/agent/guardian/surrogate promptly relays revocation to primary health-care provider and institution (§ 35-22-404(c)); primary provider records known directive/revocation and maintains furnished copy (§ 35-22-408(b)). No registry in Act |
| Provider duties, recognition, and effect | Provider/institution complies with instruction/reasonable interpretation; conscience/policy or medically ineffective/accepted-standard refusal requires prompt notice, continuing care including life-sustaining care, and immediate reasonable transfer efforts unless assistance refused (§ 35-22-408). Good-faith, accepted-standard immunity (§ 35-22-410). Directive valid if it complied with applicable law at time of execution or communication (§ 35-22-403(j)); copy equals original (§ 35-22-413) |
Wyoming's Health Care Decisions Act, Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-22-401 to 35-22-416, calls the person's own treatment direction an individual instruction. It may stand alone or appear with a health-care power of attorney. This page covers the instruction, not the agent appointment or POLST.
Requirements one by one
The instruction may be oral or written
Under § 35-22-403(a), an adult or emancipated minor may give an individual instruction orally or in writing and may limit it to take effect when a specified condition arises. The instruction-only route has no signature, date, witness, notary, delivery, or acknowledgment requirement.
The writing, directed-signature, and notary-or-two-witness rules in § 35-22-403(b) govern the separate health-care power of attorney. Wyoming also does not require an unrelated or non-heir witness for that appointment; those execution concepts should not be imported into the instruction.
The maker chooses the trigger
Wyoming imposes no universal incapacity, terminal-condition, permanent- unconsciousness, or physician-certification trigger. The maker may give a present instruction or state the activating condition (§ 35-22-403(a)).
Unless a written directive specifies another method, the primary physician determines whether capacity was lost or recovered and whether another condition affecting the instruction exists. If that physician is unavailable, the treating primary health-care provider may make the determination (§ 35-22-403(e)). A capable person's current health-care decision remains controlling (§ 35-22-412(a)).
Instructions may cover treatment and feeding broadly
An individual instruction may direct any health-care decision. That expressly includes providing, withholding, or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration and every other form of care (§ 35-22-402(a)(ix), (xi)).
Wyoming defines artificial nutrition and hydration as food and water supplied through a conduit such as a tube or IV line when voluntary chewing or swallowing is unnecessary. It expressly excludes assisted spoon or bottle feeding (§ 35-22-402(a)(iii)). The Act prints no preset terminal, permanent- unconsciousness, pain-relief, or feeding selections; the maker states the actual instruction.
What trips people up
- Revocation requires capacity. Under § 35-22-404(b), a person with capacity may revoke the instruction at any time and in any manner communicating intent. An oral revocation must be documented as soon as possible in a signed, dated writing by the person or a witness.
- A separate CPR directive remains effective. An advance directive does not silently replace a CPR directive under Wyoming's separate statute; it must specifically revoke it (§ 35-22-414(f)).
- The Act has no pregnancy-specific override. Sections 35-22-401 through 35-22-416 state no pregnancy suspension, viability test, or live-birth rule. The express boundaries instead preserve generally accepted standards and other Wyoming statutes and do not authorize mercy killing, assisted suicide, or euthanasia (§ 35-22-414(c)–(e)).
Common questions
Do treatment instructions need witnesses or a notary? No. § 35-22-403(a) permits an oral or written individual instruction. The notary-or-witness alternative belongs to the health-care power of attorney.
What if a provider refuses my instruction? Under § 35-22-408, a conscience-based policy, medically ineffective care, or generally accepted standards may support refusal. The provider must give prompt notice, continue care—including life-sustaining care—until transfer, and make immediate reasonable transfer efforts unless assistance is refused. § 35-22-410 supplies the Act's good-faith immunity.
Will Wyoming recognize an instruction made under another law? Section 35-22-403(j) says an advance health-care directive is valid for the Act if it complied with the applicable law when it was executed or communicated.
Does Wyoming maintain an advance-directive registry? The Health Care Decisions Act establishes no registry. A primary health-care provider records a known directive or revocation, requests a written copy, and keeps a furnished copy in the health-care record (§ 35-22-408(b)).
Statutes and sources
- Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-22-401 to -404 — Act, definitions, oral or written instruction, maker-selected condition, validity, and revocation. Wyoming Legislature (accessed 2026-07-31).
- Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-22-408 to -410 — records, compliance, refusal, transfer, continuing care, and immunity. Same official source (accessed 2026-07-31).
- Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-22-412 to -414 — current patient choice, capacity, copies, other-law limits, and CPR-directive interaction. Same official source (accessed 2026-07-31).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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