Living wills in Thailand
Not sure where to start? Start here
Written by Greg Berryman. Sources last checked 8 August 2026.
Thailand gives you one way to make a medical decision in advance yourself. It gives you no way to appoint somebody else to make one for you.
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What is a living will in Thailand?
Section 12 of the National Health Act B.E. 2550 (2007) gives a person the right to make a written declaration refusing public health service provided merely to prolong the terminal stage of life, or to cease severe suffering from illness. Health personnel who act in compliance with it commit no offence and bear no liability whatsoever.
Is there an official English text of section 12?
No, and there is no official English text of any Thai legislation.
The Act was published in the Government Gazette, Volume 124, Part 16a, on 19 March 2550, and only that Thai text has legal force. In Thai the provision is มาตรา 12 of พระราชบัญญัติสุขภาพแห่งชาติ พ.ศ. 2550.
The English version most often circulated, and the one linked in the sources at the foot of this page, is a translation published by the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. It is reliable enough to read the provision by. It is not the law. Where the exact wording decides something, the Thai text is the one that counts, and that is the version to put in front of a Thai lawyer or a hospital.
Can a foreigner make a living will in Thailand?
Yes. The right belongs to any person in Thailand. It does not depend on your nationality, your visa class, or how long you have lived here.
Can your family override a Thai living will?
No.
An advance directive can be made by the patient alone. There is no requirement to consult your family or obtain their agreement, and a doctor does not have to ask their permission before implementing it. Where the patient is unconscious, the only duty owed to the family is to explain the stage of the illness and the process for carrying the directive out.
For an unmarried couple that matters. On almost every other question in Thai law, a partner with no legal status is displaced by a blood relative. On this one, your own written instruction stands ahead of both of them.
How do you make a living will in Thailand?
- In writing. The Act requires this and requires that it be carried out in accordance with the rules and procedure set by Ministerial Regulation.
- Dated and signed by you.
- Two adult witnesses. Not demanded by the Act, but standard practice and worth having.
- Notarisation is generally not required. If you want it anyway, use a Thai notarial services attorney. Your own embassy may not be permitted to witness a document intended for use in Thailand, and the Australian Consulate-General says so explicitly. See who can legally act.
- Bilingual, Thai and English. A document the duty doctor cannot read is unlikely to be acted on.
Give a copy to whoever would be at the hospital with you, and ask the hospital you would normally use whether it will hold one on file.
What the Ministerial Regulation requires in detail is an open question. The Act points to it, and the regulation is published in Thai. It is with a Thai lawyer. Where the wording matters to you, have it drafted here rather than adapted from a form written for another country.
Is there an official living will register in Thailand?
The National Health Commission Office, the agency created by the Act, operates an electronic living will service.
Whether a non-Thai speaker can register through it, and whether registering adds anything to a properly made written document, is not established. The portal and most of the surrounding guidance are in Thai. It is worth asking a Thai lawyer or the hospital you would use, rather than assuming either that it is required or that it is available to you.
The Act requires the declaration to be in writing, and that is what makes it valid.
What does a living will not do?
- It puts nobody in charge of anything. It appoints no decision-maker, no attorney, no guardian.
- It reaches only the terminal stage of life. It says nothing about the months or years of ordinary medical decisions before that point.
- It does not touch your money, your bank account, your lease or your visa.
- Palliative care continues regardless.
Where does a living will fall down in practice?
Two places. "Terminal stage" is not defined precisely in the Act, and where doctors are uncertain, they treat. And the document is often not to hand when it is needed, because the emergency happens at three in the morning and the paper is in a drawer at home.
Both are fixable: unambiguous wording, and copies held by the people and the institutions who would be in the room.
Is a living will enough on its own?
No. It covers one moment at the end. It does nothing for the situation where you are alive, incapacitated, and nobody can pay your rent or speak to your bank.
That gap is set out on if you lose capacity rather than die. Why a power of attorney does not close it is on power of attorney in Thailand. Who a court can appoint to act for you, and how long that takes, is on guardianship and curatorship in Thailand.
What is in the guide?
The living will is the one instrument that works without a court. The guide contains an asset and document inventory, the next of kin authorisation letter in the wording the embassies ask for, and separate modules for British, American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Irish citizens, because the six governments define next of kin differently.
Sources
- National Health Act, B.E. 2550 (2007), section 12. The text gives the right to make a living will in writing, requires that it be carried out in accordance with Ministerial Regulation, and provides that an act done by public health personnel in compliance with it shall not be held an offence and shall not be liable to any responsibility whatsoever. Published in the Government Gazette, Volume 124, Part 16a, 19 March 2550. English translation published by the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. That translation is unofficial. No official English text of Thai legislation exists.
- National Health Commission Office, the agency established under the Act, which operates the electronic living will service.
- Notarial Services, Australian Consulate-General Phuket, on the limits of consular witnessing.
- What the Ministerial Regulation made under section 12 requires, and whether the electronic service is usable by a non-Thai speaker or adds anything to a written declaration, are open questions with a Thai lawyer. They are not answered on this page.
- No official English text of Thai legislation exists. Only the Thai text as published in the Royal Gazette has legal force. The practical points on witnesses, bilingual drafting and hospital filing are drawn from common practice. Thai legal review is under way. See about this site.