Cantabria is a Spanish province and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It covers a total area of 5,321 km². As of 2006, the population was 568.091 and the density 106.8/km².

• In the Autonomous Region of Cantabria, advance directives have been regulated at regional level since 2002: Ley 7/2002, de 10 de diciembre, de Ordenación Sanitaria de Cantabria [Law 7/2002 of December 10^th, concerning Health Regulation in Cantabria] .

• Advance directives in Cantabria can be named as:
  • Instrucciones previas
  • Voluntades previas

• Any individual of legal age who is legally qualified to act in this capacity and acting freely may draw up a written Advance Directives Statement.

• One or more proxies may be appointed to make decisions on behalf of patients when they are incapable of expressing their own wishes.

• Any individual of legal age, who is not legally disqualified, may act as the executor’s proxy. However, the Notary or the civil servant in charge of the Advance Directives Registry of Cantabria before whom the Advance Directives Document was executed are barred from acting as proxies.

• The document can be executed via any of the following procedures:

a) Via a statement made before a notary.

b)Via a statement made before three witnesses, duly signed by the executor and the witnesses

• The advance directives document may be revoked at any time via the same procedure employed for the initial registration of the document. Once registered in the Registry, the document is binding.

• In addition to the National Registry of Advance Directives, Cantabria has created its own registry, a dependency of the Government of Cantabria’s Department for Health. This registry is connected to similar registries in the various Autonomous Regions and the National Registry of Advance Directives.

• As of the 1^st of July 2010, 954 advance directives have been registered in the Autonomous Region of Cantabria (the equivalent of 167,9 healthcare directives per 100,000 inhabitants).

Advance Directives in the Autonomous Region of Cantabria are in keeping with legislation at national level (refer to the report on advance directives in Spain).

The Autonomous Region of Cantabria has developed its own legislation with regards to advance directives. In 2002 Cantabria passed Ley 7/2002, de 10 de diciembre, de Ordenación Sanitaria de Cantabria [Law 7/2002 of December 10^th, concerning Health Regulation in Cantabria].

In 2004, Cantabria passed Decreto 139/2004, de 5 de diciembre, por el que se crea y regula el Registro de Voluntades Previas de Cantabria [Decree 139/2004 of December 5th, for the creation and regulation of the Advance Directives Registry of Cantabria].

In 2005, the Autonomous Region passed Orden SAN/27/2005, de 16 de septiembre, por el que se establece el documento tipo de voluntades expresadas con carácter previo de Cantabria [Order SAN/27/2005, which establishes the model for the advance directives document in Cantabria].

On the same date, Cantabria passed Orden SAN/28/2005, de 16 de septiembre, por la que se crea el fichero automatizado de datos de carácter personal del Registro de Voluntades Previas de Cantabria [Order SAN/28/2005 of September 16th, for the creation of an automated personal data file for the Advance Directives Registry of Cantabria].

The Ley de Cantabria 6/2009, de 28 de diciembre, de Medidas Fiscales y de Contenido Financiero [Law 6/2009], includes in article 15.1, a modification of the Law 7/2002, and adds the possibility to registry an advance directive before government employees of the Health Ministry.

• The document can be executed via any of the following procedures:

        a) Via a statement made before a notary.

        b) Via a statement made before three witnesses, duly signed by the executor and the witnesses (the witnesses must be of legal age and fully qualified to act in this capacity. At least two of the witnesses must not be related to the executor further than the second degree or bonded with the executor as a result of marriage or a similar relationship and must be free of any relationship with the executor resulting from employment, shared estate or services).

• Documentation required:

In the event that the document is formalised before three witnesses, the following documentation must be provided:

1. Request for document registration.

2. The original copy of the advance directives document.

3. A certified copy of the national identification document or passport of the executor and, where applicable, his or her Health Insurance Card number.

4. A certified copy of the national identification document or passport of each of the witnesses.

5. A statement of compliance from two of the witnesses affirming the absence of any bond of marriage or similar relationship with the executor, the absence of any relationship of kinship with the executor further than the second degree and the absence of any bonds resulting from employment, estate or services.

In the event that the document is executed before a notary:

1. Request for document registration.

2. A certified copy of the advance directives document.

The Consejería de Sanidad de Cantabria [Government of Cantabria’s Department of Health] provides a model for the Advance Directives document, a model to request registration of the execution of the Advance Directives Document and a model to request registration of the revocation of the Advance Directives Document.

 Forms are available by clicking here.