Living Wills and Advance Directives in Missouri

Any competent person may sign a 'declaration' directing that death-prolonging procedures be withheld or withdrawn if they have a terminal condition. It must be in writing, dated, and signed by the declarant (or by another person in the declarant's presence and at their direction), and, unless it is wholly in the declarant's handwriting, signed in the presence of two or more witnesses at least 18 years old (the person who signed for the declarant cannot be a witness). The statute gives an optional sample Declaration form. The declarant is responsible for telling the attending physician about it.

Missouri uses a 'durable power of attorney for health care' under the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Act (RSMo 404.800 to 404.872). To be durable, a power of attorney must be called a 'Durable Power of Attorney,' include the statutory durability language, and be signed by the principal, dated, and acknowledged before a notary (the way real estate deeds are acknowledged). Authority to have artificially supplied nutrition and hydration withheld or withdrawn must be granted specifically in the document, and an agent may never authorize withdrawal of food or water the patient can take naturally with intent to cause death.