Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is in Central and Southeastern Europe. As of 2008, the estimated population in 2008 is 10,159,046 inhabitants.

A complete description of the Serbian Health Care System available online at:

World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe

Currently, there is no specific regulation of Advance Directives in Serbia.

the Health Care Act of 2005 [ Zakon o zdravstvenoj zaštiti ] introduces the possibility of appointing a healthcare proxy in case of incompetence.

In Serbie, Advance Directives are named as Nalog o pristanku ili nepristanku na medicinski tretman. Living will as Pacijentov testament.

The number of ADs, if any, must be very low, due to there is neither legislation nor information about this topic. The issue of ADs has not yet been raised in Serbia and such debate has not yet started.

Generally speaking, the citizens of Serbia do not complete ADs. No register of ADs exists. As a result, it is impossible to know whether some people have already completed them, whether before a notary public or by another method.

The possibility of appointing a healthcare proxy is relatively new to Serbia, and it is not possible to know the number of people who decided to do so.

Advance Directives are not regulated by any specific law in Serbia and t here is not any particular bill regarding ADs.

A competent patient in Serbia has a right to refuse any kind of medical treatment even that of life saving or life sustaining. The law does not recognize possibility of making an anticipatory choice for oneself (living will) but allows appointing another person to make proxy choices when the need arises.

Thus, the Health Care Act of 2005 [ Zakon o zdravstvenoj zaštiti ] introduces the possibility of appointing a healthcare proxy in case of incompetence. Article 320(4) “A patient is entitled to designate a health care surrogate who will consent to treatment on the patient’s behalf or instead of the patient will be informed about health care measures to be performed, in the event the patient is unable to decide on consent”.

The text of the original Health Care Act of 2005 [ Zakon o zdravstvenoj zaštiti] can be found in the following link:

http://www.parlament.sr.gov.yu/content/cir/akta/akta_detalji.asp?Id=310&t=Z#

There is no official procedure to registry an AD in Serbia.

There is no official form to complete an AD in Serbia.