Medical Power of Attorney in South Carolina

South Carolina uses a health care power of attorney. It must be dated and signed by the principal and by at least two qualified witnesses (for example, not certain relatives, not the attending physician or that physician's employee, not financially responsible for the principal's care, and no more than one employee of the treating facility). A statutory form is provided. A document with the principal's signature, two qualified witnesses and a notary's attestation, naming the agent and the decisions covered, is deemed to comply.

A health care power of attorney must be dated and signed by the principal and by at least two witnesses who meet the qualification rules (for example, not certain relatives, not the attending physician or that physician's employee, not financially responsible for the principal's care, and no more than one employee of the treating facility). A statutory form is provided. A separate living will (Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death) is made under the Death with Dignity Act, Title 44, Chapter 77.

South Carolina's living will is the 'Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death' under the Death with Dignity Act. It must be substantially in the statutory form (S.C. Code § 44-77-50), dated and signed by the declarant in the presence of an officer authorized to administer oaths (such as a notary) and two witnesses (one of whom may be the notary). The witnesses state in an affidavit that they are not related to the declarant by blood, marriage or adoption, not directly financially responsible for the declarant's medical care, not entitled to any part of the estate, not a beneficiary of the declarant's life insurance, and the statute limits how many may be employees of the treating facility. It applies when the declarant has a terminal condition or is permanently unconscious.

South Carolina's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (S.C. Code Title 62, Article 8) does not include a statutory financial power of attorney form; it provides only an optional form an agent may use to certify facts about a power of attorney (62-8-119(f)). A power of attorney must be signed by the principal (or by another person in the principal's presence at the principal's direction), attested with the same formalities and witness requirements as a will in South Carolina, and acknowledged or proved under Section 30-5-30 (62-8-105). For health care, the Probate Code sets out a "Health Care Power of Attorney (S.C. Statutory Form)"; documents executed on or after January 1, 2007 must be substantially in that form. It is not valid unless two persons sign as witnesses who saw the principal sign or acknowledge the signature. Witnesses cannot include the principal's spouse, close relatives and their spouses, anyone financially responsible for the principal's medical care, heirs or will and life insurance beneficiaries, the named agents, the principal's physician or the physician's employees, or anyone with a claim against the estate; if the principal is a patient in a health facility, no more than one witness may be a facility employee. Notarization of the health care form is optional.