That's a great question, I found an article in AM Costa Rica, but it doesn't talk about whether or not they are valid here. For those unclear on the concept: "
A living will is a document that states a person's desire about whether to be artificially sustained on life-support machines in the event of a terminal condition due to accident, injury or illness where there is no reasonable medical probability of recovery."
In general this is not a big topic here. There are some factors that make it less relevant in Costa Rica than in the US or Europe. Firstly, most Costa Ricans and many foreigners are covered only by the public health care system. The emergency care, surgery and post operative care in this system are very good. Most complaints stem from waiting times to get appointments, excessive paperwork, and long lines for getting medication for out patients. However, the reality is that they will not be taking extreme measures to keep someone alive. And in any case the additional costs would not be billed to you or your estate. You have to consider that the official religion of Costa Rica is catholicism, so in theory that would eliminate living wills from being legal as the Catholic Church is against them. But that doesn't change the reality that the Caja doesn't have the equipment or funding to take extreme measures in the kinds of situations living wills deal with.
That leaves private hospitals and the medical insurance offered by INS, until and if CAFTA is approved, which will open the market to other insurers.
I found an article in Spanish that deals with Euthanasia and living wills
testamento vital ( Click here to read it ) According to the article, there is no legislation in Costa Rica supporting living wills or euthanasia. The Penal Code of Costa Rica regulates "mercy homicide" by establishing a penalty of 6 months to 3 years of prison time for someone who, "motivated by a sense of mercy kills a very sick or incurably sick person, at the serious or insistant petition of that person even if they are related" .
The crime would have to meet several conditions in order to be classified as a "mercy homicide" : a) the accused acted for humanitarian reasons; b) the victim has a severe or incurable disease; c) the sick person must have expressed their will through a serious or persistent request; d) it wouldn't matter whether or not the person who participated in the homicide was a relative. It is worth noting that crime in any case is lightly sanctioned, with the maximum penalty being 3 years.
CAMPOS CALDERON, J. Federico, SANCHEZ ESCOBAR, Carlos y JARAMILLO LEZCANO, Omaira. Consideraciones acerca de la eutanasia. Med. leg. Costa Rica. [online]. abr. 2001, vol.18, no.1 [citado 17 Noviembre 2006], p.29-64.
You can see that the article is from 2001 and discusses these issues as applied in other countries and its applications in Costa Rica, Panama, and El Salvador. And they conclude that euthanasia is criminalized in these three countries.
In studying the issue it appears to me that there are 3 aspects of the living will: the suffering of the patient, the legal responsibility of the doctor and the cost of the medical care.
To shield your assets you can set up a trust or a corporation to hold your Costa Rican assets and even your U.S. assets. Your American-European broker can recommend one or more good attorneys that will suit you.
The legal responsibility of the doctor is slight here, and the "crime" is not currently prosecuted here. Mal practice suits here are not common, because of the court system and insurance situation. Private medical care is usually paid for by the patient, which I believe keeps the costs down.
So that leaves the suffering of the patient. Having a living will is not illegal, even though it is not legally enforcable because of the lack of legislation supporting them. So the only way that I can see to proceed would be to make sure your family doctor and family know of your wishes. You can have your lawyer draw up the living will, or translate one that you find online.
In conclusion, it seems that some of the issues living wills are designed to resolve are irrelevant here. Where they are relevant it appears that it is decided between the patient, doctor and patient's family on a private level rather than through the legal system which has not taken an active hand in the issue.
