Connecticut: Living Will and Advance Health-Care Instruction Requirements

Connecticut calls the adult's written future treatment instructions a living
will. It may be a standalone document under § 19a-575 or the instruction part
of the combined form in § 19a-575a. The combined form also appoints a health-care
representative, designates a possible conservator, and addresses anatomical
gifts; those appointment and gift provisions are separate from the living will.

Requirements one by one

The living will is signed and dated with at least two witnesses

Under § 19a-575 and § 19a-575a(a), a person who is at least 18 may execute health-
care instructions. The maker signs and dates the document with at least two
witnesses. The statute provides no notary alternative, directed-signer route, or
electronic-specific execution method.

The treatment-only statute does not impose an ordinary relative, heir, provider,
or facility-employee witness bar. § 19a-578 separately lets a
witness make a sworn affidavit before an officer authorized to administer oaths
to simplify later proof; that affidavit is optional and does not replace the
witnesses.

If the same document also appoints a representative, § 19a-576(a) adds rules
for the appointment side: the appointed person cannot witness, and residents of
certain state mental-health or developmental-services facilities need the
specified unaffiliated and specially trained witnesses. Those added rules should
not be imported into a treatment-only living will.

An oral statement can show wishes but is not a living will

Section 19a-570(9) defines a living will as a written statement. Section
19a-578(b) nevertheless requires providers to record oral communications
about health care, including life-support withholding or withdrawal. If a
dispute reaches Probate Court, § 19a-580c(a) requires clear and convincing
evidence of wishes communicated outside a statutory living-will document.

Operation and protected life-support removal have separate findings

Under § 19a-579, the living will becomes operative when it is furnished to
the attending physician or APRN and that clinician determines incapacity. The
definition in § 19a-570(7) asks whether the adult can understand and
appreciate the nature and consequences of health-care decisions and reach and
communicate an informed decision.

§ 19a-571(a) adds condition findings for protected withholding or removal
of a life-support system. The attending physician or APRN must find a terminal
condition, or must consult an examining physician qualified to make a
neurological diagnosis before finding permanent unconsciousness. If neither
condition is found, beneficial medical treatment, including nutrition and
hydration, must be provided.

Life support includes artificial nutrition and hydration

Connecticut defines a life-support system to include mechanical or electronic
devices and artificial means of nutrition or hydration. The optional form asks
that life support not prolong dying in a terminal condition or permanent
unconsciousness and lists artificial respiration, CPR, and artificial nutrition
and hydration. The signer may cross out and initial systems the signer wants
administered and may add other specific requests.

§ 19a-573(a) requires comfort care and pain alleviation in all cases. The
combined form likewise states a desire for enough pain medication to maintain
physical comfort.

The current form offers pregnancy choices rather than an override

Former §§ 19a-574 and 19a-575 show the change: the section titled
nonapplicability to a pregnant patient was repealed in 2018, while the current
optional form asks the signer to choose among three
instructions: accept life support if the doctor believes it would allow the
fetus to reach a live birth; apply the document without modification; or state
alternative instructions.

The statute therefore does not impose the viability suspension stated in some
generic forms. It supplies signer-selected pregnancy language. The form also
states that it seeks no direct taking of life, only that dying not be
unreasonably prolonged.

A living will may be revoked in any manner

Under § 19a-579a, the declarant may revoke the living will at any time and in
any manner, without regard to mental or physical condition. The attending
physician or other provider places the revocation in the medical record. A
person without knowledge of revocation receives the statute's reliance
protection.

The combined form's appointment of a representative has a different, formal
revocation rule. That rule does not govern the living will, and revoking the
appointment does not itself revoke the living will. Current Chapter 368w does
not establish an advance-directive registry.

Providers consider the instructions and transfer if unwilling

Section 19a-571 requires consideration of the patient's expressed wishes
and ties immunity to the usual and customary standards of medical practice and
the required condition findings. Within a reasonable time before life-support
removal, §§ 19a-580 and 19a-580a require reasonable notification efforts to the listed
representative, family, guardian, conservator, or designated person if
available, followed by prompt reasonable transfer steps from an unwilling
attending physician or provider.

Under § 19a-580g, instructions executed in another state or country are
deemed validly executed if they comply with that jurisdiction's law or
Connecticut law and are not contrary to Connecticut public policy. The section
also states the court-order, notarized-statement, and provider good-faith legal-
analysis reliance routes.

What trips people up

• The living will and representative appointment have overlapping but
  different witness rules. The treatment-only will needs at least two
  witnesses; appointment-specific disqualifications arise only when the document
  also appoints a representative.
• One clinician triggers operation. The attending physician or APRN makes
  the incapacity determination under § 19a-579; a second physician enters the
  analysis only for the neurological permanent-unconscious finding.
• Pregnancy is a choice in the form, not a viability ban. The former
  pregnancy nonapplicability statute was repealed.
• Oral communications are evidence, not a written living will. Providers
  record them, and disputed non-document communications face a clear-and-
  convincing-evidence rule.
• Revocation is deliberately informal. Any manner works regardless of the
  declarant's mental or physical condition, with provider record notation.

Common questions

Does a Connecticut living will need notarization?
No. It must be signed and dated with at least two witnesses. A witness affidavit
may be notarized for proof, but that is optional.

When does the living will become operative?
When it is furnished to the attending physician or APRN and that clinician
determines the declarant is incapacitated under § 19a-579.

Can the form address a feeding tube?
Yes. Artificial nutrition and hydration is included in the statutory definition
and optional form's life-support language, and the form permits the signer to
cross out and initial systems the signer wants administered.

What does the current form say about pregnancy?
It offers three choices: life support if the doctor believes it would allow the
fetus to reach a live birth, application without modification, or custom
instructions. The former pregnancy suspension statute is repealed.

Statutes and sources

• Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 19a-570–19a-580g — current Chapter 368w definitions,
  living-will forms and execution, operation, treatment conditions, comfort
  care, pregnancy choices, revocation, provider procedure, and foreign-document
  recognition.
  https://prdext3.cga.ct.gov/2025/pub/chap_368w.htm (accessed 2026-07-31)