In Wyoming, a health care directive is often referred to as “instructions for health care,” but the terms are used interchangeably. A health care directive can provide instructions to your family and doctors regarding which types of life-sustaining care you should receive if you suffer from a condition or injury that can’t be cured and will eventually result in your death. Other situations, such as if you are temporarily incapacitated following an accident, should be addressed using a power of attorney for health care.

Treatments usually addressed in a health care directive include:

• When cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be administered
• The use of a respirator if you can’t breathe on your own
• Taking food or liquids through a feeding tube
• Surgery or invasive diagnostic tests
• The treatment of infections with antibiotics or other medication
• How long you should receive dialysis, if needed
• End-of-life (palliative care) choices regarding things like pain management
• Whether you would like your organs, tissue, or body to be donated

Wyoming law only lets a health care directive dictate your medical care when you are dying or have been rendered permanently unconscious. That means you will need to give someone health care power of attorney to address other situations where you may need medical treatment and are unable to make decisions on your own but still expected to recover. The person to whom you give medical power of attorney is sometimes known as a health care agent or proxy.

A person who has been given health care power of attorney can make the following decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated:

• What medical care you should receive
• The hospital or other facility where you will be treated
• The doctors and health care providers who will treat you
• Whether you should be moved to an assisted living facility, nursing home, or other long-term care facility

Remember, while a health care power of attorney lets someone else make medical decisions on your behalf, a health care directive is usually considered the final word with regard to your end-of-life care. The terms of a health care directive often override the decisions of both your health care proxy and your doctor.

Your Wyoming health care directive should be in writing. Regardless of whether you choose to draft the document yourself, hire an attorney, or use a safe and easy service like FindLaw’s, the language you use in your health care directive is vital to its effectiveness.

The best way to ensure that your document is clear as to your intentions is to begin with a blanket statement as to whether you want life-prolonging treatment if you are terminally ill. That can be followed by a list of common medical treatments that are provided to terminally ill patients and whether you would like to accept or reject that treatment. Including those two elements should help remove any ambiguity regarding your wishes.

Executing a legal document is the process of signing it to make it legal. To be legally valid in Wyoming you will need to sign and date your health care directive in front of two or more adult witnesses. No witnesses are required if the health care directive has been notarized.

Wyoming law does place limits on who can serve as a witness to the signing of your health care directive. The two people who witness your health care directive must meet the following criteria:

• At least 18 years old
• Not your appointed health care agent
• Not related to you
• Not directly financially responsible for your health care
• Not your current health care provider
• Not an employee of your health care provider
• Not aware that they are entitled to the proceeds of your estate

You should make several copies of your signed health care directive document and keep the original in a safe place where your family or attorney know where to find it. Give copies to anyone whom you have given durable medical power of attorney, your primary care doctor, any medical specialists you are seeing, and any medical facility where you are likely to receive treatment. You should also keep copies available in case you need to provide them to additional people or facilities.