Delaware: Living Will and Advance Health-Care Instruction Requirements

Delaware now uses the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act (2023), 16 Del.
C. chapter 25, effective September 30, 2025. A health-care instruction can
stand alone or share a record with a health-care power of attorney. This page
covers the instruction, not the agent appointment or a clinician order.

Requirements one by one

An instruction may be oral, written, or electronic

Under § 2502(14), a health-care instruction is a direction "whether or not
in a record." It may state goals, preferences, or wishes about providing,
withholding, or withdrawing health care and may take effect only when a
specified condition arises.

The instruction-only route does not require a signature, date, witness, or
notary. If an individual communicates an instruction to a health-care
professional, § 2507(b) requires the professional to document both the
instruction and its date in the medical record. A recorded instruction may be
tangible or electronic, and electronic form is expressly recognized by
§ 2516.

For creating or revoking an instruction, § 2503(a) recognizes communication
with services, technology, supported decision making, or another reasonable
accommodation and requires understanding of the instruction's nature,
consequences, primary risks, and benefits.

The optional form's witness is only for an agent appointment

The § 2511 form asks the individual to sign and date at the end. Its own
witness instruction says: "You need a witness if you are using this form to
name an Agent." Completing treatment instructions without appointing an agent
does not import § 2508's one-witness power-of-attorney rule.

The individual chooses the medical conditions

Delaware imposes no universal terminal-condition, permanent-unconsciousness,
incapacity, or clinician-certification trigger for a treatment instruction. The
individual may specify the activating condition under § 2502(14).

The optional form offers three recurring condition choices: an incurable
condition expected to cause death soon even if treated; unconsciousness with no
expected return to consciousness; or an unrecoverable condition preventing
communication with loved ones, self-care, and recognition of family and
friends (§ 2511).

Treatment, feeding, and pain relief are separate choices

The optional form separates medical treatment needed to stay alive, lifelong
tube-supplied food or liquids, and comfort care likely to shorten life. Each
section offers condition-based choices plus space for a different instruction;
the pain section also permits always or never choices. The Act's health-care-
decision definition expressly includes artificial nutrition, hydration,
mechanical ventilation, and other health care (§ 2502(12)).

What trips people up

• The Act contains no pregnancy-specific override. Chapter 25 and its
  optional form state no pregnancy suspension, viability test, or live-birth
  rule. Section 2527 instead supplies the mercy-killing, assisted-suicide,
  euthanasia, suicide/homicide, and insurance boundaries.
• Long-term disability has a surrogate-specific protection. If routine
  feeding, hydration, or ventilation has been used without objection, an agent
  or default surrogate generally cannot withdraw it unless an exception in
  § 2519 applies. An express, unrevoked instruction authorizing withdrawal
  is one of those exceptions, and current verbal or nonverbal wishes remain
  relevant.
• The new Act replaced the old execution architecture. An instruction may
  be oral and needs no witnesses. Older two-witness or notary language should
  not be carried forward after September 30, 2025.

Common questions

Must I sign and witness a treatment instruction?
No. A health-care instruction may exist outside a record. The optional form has
a signature line, but it expressly requires a witness only when the form names
an agent (§§ 2502(14), 2511).

How may I revoke?
While having revocation capacity, you may use any act clearly indicating an
intent to revoke, including an oral statement to a health-care professional.
A later conflicting directive revokes the earlier one to the extent of the
conflict (§ 2515).

What if a provider refuses?
Under § 2521, the provider or institution must state the refusal, make an
immediate reasonable transfer effort, and continue life-sustaining and comfort
care under the section's transfer and timing rules. § 2523 supplies the
good-faith immunity rules, and § 2525 gives physical and electronic copies
the same effect as the original. The legal-effect boundaries are in
§ 2527.

Will Delaware recognize an instruction made elsewhere?
Yes, if it complies with the law of the state named in the directive, or if no
state is named, the state where it was created, or if it complies with Delaware
chapter 25 (§ 2516(a)).

Statutes and sources

• 16 Del. C. §§ 2502–2503 and 2507 — definitions, capacity, oral or recorded
  instruction, documentation, and conflicting instructions. Delaware Code
  Online (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 16 Del. C. § 2511 — optional combined form and separate treatment,
  feeding, pain, signature, and witness directions. Same official source
  (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 16 Del. C. §§ 2515–2516 and 2519 — revocation, electronic and foreign
  validity, and long-term-disability treatment limits. Same official source
  (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 16 Del. C. §§ 2521, 2523, 2525, and 2527 — provider duties, refusal and
  transfer, immunity, copy effect, and statutory boundaries. Same official
  source (accessed 2026-07-31).