Living Will in Manitoba: How to Document Your Parent's Medical Wishes

Living Will in Manitoba: How to Document Your Parent's Medical Wishes

Your parent is in the ICU after a stroke. The attending physician asks whether your mother wants to be placed on a ventilator. You think she wouldn't, but you're not sure, and neither is your brother. Without a document that records her wishes, the clinical team has no legal basis to follow your family's guidance on non-emergency treatment decisions.

In Manitoba, the document most people call a "living will" is officially a Health Care Directive, governed by The Health Care Directives Act (CCSM c. H27). It does two things: records your parent's specific treatment instructions, and names a proxy who can make medical decisions on their behalf when they can no longer speak for themselves.

What a Health Care Directive Actually Covers

A health care directive is not the same as a power of attorney. In Manitoba, a power of attorney only covers financial and property matters. Medical decisions require a completely separate document.

Your parent's health care directive can include:

• Treatment preferences for specific scenarios (CPR, ventilation, feeding tubes, dialysis)
• Proxy appointment — naming one or more people authorized to make healthcare decisions
• Personal care instructions — preferences about where to live, religious observances, daily routines
• Organ donation wishes under The Human Tissue Gift Act

If your parent names multiple proxies, Manitoba law presumes they act consecutively in the order listed, not jointly, unless the directive specifically says otherwise.

Who Can Be a Proxy

A proxy must be at least 18 years old and mentally competent. There are no residency requirements, so an adult child living in another province can serve.

The proxy's legal obligation is to follow your parent's documented wishes first. If no written instructions cover the specific situation, the proxy must act in your parent's best interests. The proxy cannot consent to non-therapeutic sterilization or medical research unless the directive explicitly allows it.

Signing Rules That Trip Families Up

Here's where Manitoba differs from what many families expect:

• If your parent can physically sign, no witness is required at all. Your parent can complete and sign the form alone.
• If someone else signs on your parent's behalf (because they physically cannot), that substitute must sign in front of both your parent and a witness. The appointed proxy and their spouse cannot be the witness or the substitute signer.
• Remote witnessing (via video call) is permitted under Manitoba Regulation 82/2021. Any competent adult who is not the proxy or their spouse can witness remotely.

The Manitoba government publishes a free Health Care Directive form (Form MG-3598), but the blank form doesn't walk you through the execution steps or explain the legal consequences of each choice.

What Happens Without a Living Will in Manitoba

This is the critical gap families don't know about until it's too late: Manitoba does not have a comprehensive statutory default consent hierarchy for next of kin.

For genuine emergencies, doctors can treat under the common law "emergency doctrine" to preserve life. But for non-emergency decisions — like whether to proceed with a hip replacement, whether to continue chemotherapy, or whether to agree to PCH placement — healthcare providers cannot legally accept a family member's consent if the patient is incapable and has no health care directive.

In practice, clinical teams informally consult family members (spouse first, then adult children), but this practice has no explicit statutory authority. It leaves both the family and the medical team in a legally uncertain position.

The only way to close this gap permanently is a court-ordered guardianship under The Mental Health Act — a process that costs $7,500 to $12,500 in legal fees and takes months.

The Capacity Window Is Real

An early-stage dementia or Alzheimer's diagnosis does not mean your parent has lost the legal capacity to sign a health care directive. Under Manitoba law, capacity means the ability to understand information relevant to a healthcare decision and appreciate its consequences. Anyone aged 16 or older is presumed to have this capacity unless proven otherwise.

The window closes when your parent can no longer understand what the document means and who they're appointing. Once that happens, no kit, no lawyer, and no family meeting can create a health care directive. The only path forward is the court system.

Next Steps

If your parent can still hold a conversation about their medical wishes, the time to act is now. The Manitoba Power of Attorney & Personal Directive Kit includes the health care directive alongside the financial EPA, with step-by-step execution instructions specific to Manitoba's witnessing rules and proxy appointment process.

See more Manitoba guides →