Florida Do Not Resuscitate Form: DH 1896, Signing, and Revocation

To create a valid Florida Do Not Resuscitate Form, download Form DH 1896 from the Florida Department of Health website, print it on yellow paper, and have it signed by the patient (or an authorized representative) and a qualifying healthcare provider. The yellow paper rule is not cosmetic. EMS personnel are not required to honor the form if it is printed on any other color.¹

How to Get and Complete Form DH 1896

Form DH 1896 is free. You can download it from the Florida Department of Health, or pick up a copy at your physician’s office, a hospital, or a hospice program. Print it on yellow paper before anyone signs. Any shade of yellow works. White paper with yellow highlighting does not.²

Fill in the patient’s full legal name and date of birth. The patient (or an authorized representative) signs. The healthcare provider signs and prints their name. That’s it. Unlike most Florida legal documents, the DNRO does not require notarization or witnesses. Once both signatures are on the yellow form, it is legally valid.¹

Who Can Sign

Any competent adult can request a DNRO. You do not need a terminal illness or a specific diagnosis.

The Provider Side

You will see sources that say only a licensed physician can sign. That is incomplete. Under Florida Administrative Code Rule 64J-2.018, the form can be signed by a physician, an osteopathic physician, an autonomous advanced practice registered nurse, or a physician assistant.² Florida Statute 401.45 also names physicians and physician assistants as authorized signers.³ If your regular provider is a PA or an APRN, they can complete the form without routing you to a separate physician visit.

The Patient Side

A competent patient signs for themselves. If the patient cannot make their own medical decisions, Florida law allows these people to sign on the patient’s behalf:

A healthcare surrogate or proxy designated under Chapter 765.
A court-appointed guardian with authority over health care decisions under Chapter 744.
An attorney in fact under a durable power of attorney (Chapter 709) that expressly includes health care decision-making authority.³

The authority has to be specific. A general power of attorney that does not mention health care decisions will not qualify someone to sign a DNRO.

Making the Form Work in an Emergency

A signed DNRO only helps if EMS can see it. A form sitting in a filing cabinet during a cardiac arrest is no different from no form at all. Give copies to everyone involved in the patient’s care: family, the primary care provider, specialists, and any facility providing treatment. Every copy must also be on yellow paper.

At home, keep the DNRO somewhere obvious. Taped to the refrigerator or posted near the bed are both common. The bottom portion of Form DH 1896 is a reduced-size version meant to be cut out, folded, and carried as a wallet card. Worn or carried on the person so it is readily apparent to EMS, the wallet-sized device has the same legal effect as the full form.² For patients who leave the house regularly, this is the single most important step after the signatures.

What the Form Does and Does Not Cover

The Florida DNRO tells emergency medical technicians and paramedics to withhold CPR if the patient’s heart stops or they stop breathing. That means no chest compressions, no artificial ventilation, no defibrillation, and no emergency cardiac medications. The order is governed by Florida Statute 401.45 and Florida Administrative Code Rule 64J-2.018.³

The DNRO is built for out-of-hospital emergencies. It governs what paramedics and EMTs do at your home, in a nursing facility, or anywhere outside a hospital. The Florida Department of Health does not regulate internal hospital DNR processes, and many hospitals, health care facilities, and hospice programs use their own documentation.¹ If the patient is admitted, ask the facility’s care team how resuscitation wishes will be recorded on their side. The yellow form alone may not be enough once you are inside.

A DNRO Is Not a Living Will

Many people assume a living will keeps paramedics from attempting CPR. It does not. Without a DNRO, EMS personnel are legally required to attempt resuscitation even when a living will says the patient wants no life-prolonging treatment.

A living will is broader. Under Florida Statute 765.303, it addresses what should happen if you develop a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or enter a persistent vegetative state, and it covers things like feeding tubes and ventilators. It also requires witnesses.⁴ A DNRO answers one narrow question: should CPR be performed right now? It is the only document EMTs and paramedics are trained and required to follow in the field.¹ If you want both broad end-of-life planning and protection from unwanted resuscitation at home, you need both documents.

Revoking or Changing the Order

A DNRO can be revoked at any time. No paperwork, no physician approval. Under Florida Administrative Code Rule 64J-2.018, a competent patient can revoke the order by:

Telling medical personnel verbally that they want to be resuscitated.
Expressing a contrary intent in writing.
Physically destroying the form.
Not presenting it to EMS when they arrive.²

Florida’s advance directive statute adds that a new written document signed in the same manner as the original is also a valid revocation.⁵ To modify the DNRO rather than cancel it, complete and sign a new Form DH 1896. The new form replaces the old one.

Then do the step most people skip: tell everyone who has a copy. If a yellow form is still on the refrigerator but the patient changed their mind last week, the paramedic walking in has no way to know. Notify family, caregivers, and providers whenever the DNRO is revoked or replaced, and collect or destroy the old copies.

1
Florida Department of Health. Do Not Resuscitate Order
2
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R 64J-2.018 – Do Not Resuscitate Order DNRO Form and Device
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 401-45 – Denial of Emergency Treatment
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 765.303 – Suggested Form of a Living Will
5
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 765.104 – Amendment or Revocation