ADVANCE HEALTHCARE DIRECTIVE · PANAMA
Record your care wishes. Make them available.
Prepare for a time when you may be unable to communicate your healthcare wishes. English-speaking legal support helps you document instructions for use in Panama and plan how they will reach your healthcare team.
01
Discuss your wishes
Talk with your clinician about situations and treatment options that matter to you. Bring existing directives to the legal review.
02
Prepare the document
Clarify your instructions, any representative and the required formalities. Avoid relying on an unreviewed foreign template.
03
Plan practical access
Agree where copies will be kept and how your clinician, hospital and representative can obtain the current version.
What an advance healthcare directive does
Panama’s Law 68 of 2003 provides for a documento de voluntades anticipadas: instructions to the medical team for circumstances in which you cannot personally express your wishes. It can also identify a representative to communicate with the team. This is different from a will distributing your estate.
Instructions are subject to legal and clinical limits. Article 35 excludes directions contrary to law, good clinical practice or the best available scientific evidence, and directions that do not fit the situation anticipated by the person. A document is not an unconditional instruction to provide or withhold any treatment.
Discuss medical choices with your treating clinician. Our role is the Panamanian legal documentation and its formalities; clinical advice and treatment decisions belong with qualified healthcare professionals.
Formalities and delivery in Panama
Article 34 of Law 68 provides for execution before a notary, without witnesses, or before three legally capable adult witnesses. At least two witnesses must meet the specified family-relationship and financial-independence restrictions. Have the appropriate route and eligibility checked before signing.
Executive Decree 1458 of 2012 adds implementation rules, including formalities for documents executed abroad. Bring the original foreign directive and identify its country of execution so that notarisation, authentication and translation requirements can be assessed.
The directive needs to reach the healthcare provider. Agree a practical handover with your clinician or hospital and keep your representative informed. Ask the provider how the document will be recorded and located when needed; do not assume that storing a copy online makes it automatically available to every hospital.
How we help you prepare
- Review existing arrangements. Explain where you receive care, the documents you already have and whom you would like involved.
- Clarify instructions. Identify questions to discuss with your clinician, then align the legal wording with your informed wishes.
- Agree scope and formalities. Confirm the drafting work, execution route and any notarial, translation or authentication steps.
- Arrange handover and review. Plan copies, provider access, representative contact details and a process for replacing outdated versions.
Fees and timing: request a quotation for your circumstances. Drafting, notarisation, translation and other third-party charges should be distinguished. Do not assume that a remotely prepared draft is ready for use before the required formalities are completed.
What to bring to the first discussion
- Existing healthcare directives, medical powers of attorney or other relevant documents.
- The countries where you live and expect to receive care.
- Contact details for the person you would like involved and any alternative.
- Questions about document language, signing abroad and handing copies to your provider.
You do not need to put your medical history in an initial website enquiry. Start by describing the legal help you need and ask how any necessary confidential documents should be provided.
For a broader comparison of documents, see wills and personal planning in Panama. A power of attorney for a transaction should not be treated as a substitute for healthcare planning.
Questions about advance healthcare directives
No. In this context, a living will concerns healthcare wishes. A last will and testament concerns your estate after death. They address different purposes.
Yes. Article 33 allows a representative to be designated in the advance directive. Discuss that person’s role and availability when preparing the document.
Panamanian law contains exceptions to the usual consent requirements for urgent, indispensable treatment. Their application depends on the circumstances. Do not assume either that a directive always prevents emergency treatment or that every emergency automatically overrides it.
Have it reviewed for use in Panama before relying on it. Tell us where it was signed and provide the complete document. The formalities, wording, language and provider handover need to be addressed together.
Request a review when your wishes, health circumstances, representative or country of care changes. Confirm how changes must be documented and ensure your provider and representative receive the current version.
Discuss the legal arrangements for your care wishes
Panamanian legal advice and document work are provided by Karen Dorcy, Abogada (Republic of Panama), Idoneidad No. 10179. Discuss treatment options with your clinician and coordinate the legal documents with any arrangements in other countries.
Legal sources: Law 68 of 20 November 2003, particularly Articles 18–20 and 33–36; Executive Decree 1458 of 6 November 2012, Chapter IV. General information, not individual legal or medical advice. Updated 25 October 2026.