How to Fill Out and Sign a Washington Living Will Form

To fill out a Washington living will, use the Health Care Directive form printed in RCW 70.122.030, write in your name and residence, check one box choosing whether you want artificially provided nutrition and hydration, add any personal instructions you want, and sign in front of two qualified witnesses. No notary is required, no lawyer is required, and there is no filing fee.

Below is what each part of the form asks for, who can witness it, and what to do with the document once it is signed.

Where to Get the Form

The statutory form lives inside RCW 70.122.030 on the Washington State Legislature’s website, and you can copy it directly from there.¹ Free pre-formatted versions are also available from CaringInfo (a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization), which offers a PDF in English and Spanish that combines the Health Care Directive with a durable power of attorney for health care, and from Washington Law Help, which publishes a plain-language version aimed at Washington residents.

You are not locked into a specific template. The statute says the directive must be “in substantially the following form,” so minor formatting differences are fine as long as the substantive language matches.¹

Who Can Sign One

Any Washington adult, meaning anyone 18 or older, can sign a directive as long as they have the capacity to make health care decisions. In practice that means understanding what life-sustaining treatment is, that you are choosing to refuse it in certain circumstances, and that the refusal could result in your death.¹

Filling In Each Section

Personal Information

At the top of the form, write the date you are signing and your full legal name. Near the bottom, you will fill in your city, county, and state of residence. That is all the identifying information the form asks for. No Social Security number, no date of birth.¹

The Core Directive

Section (a) is the substance of the document. It states that if your attending physician diagnoses you with a terminal condition, or if two physicians diagnose you with a permanent unconscious condition, and life-sustaining treatment would only artificially prolong the dying process, you direct that treatment be withheld or withdrawn so you die naturally. You do not check a box for this part. Signing the form is how you adopt the instruction.

The form defines a terminal condition as an incurable and irreversible illness, injury, or disease that would cause death within a reasonable time under accepted medical standards. A permanent unconscious condition means an irreversible coma or persistent vegetative state with no reasonable probability of recovery.¹

The One Active Choice: Nutrition and Hydration

Section (c) is the part of the form where you make a decision by checking a box. The two options are:

I DO want artificially provided nutrition and hydration.
I DO NOT want artificially provided nutrition and hydration.

This is a separate question from the general directive about life-sustaining treatment, and it is where people most often pause. You can direct that a ventilator be withdrawn while still choosing to receive tube feeding and IV fluids, or you can decline both. Think through what matters to you, and talk it over with your doctor before checking the box.¹

Adding Your Own Instructions

Section (e) of the statutory form explicitly permits you to add, delete, or change the wording before you sign, so long as your changes stay consistent with Washington law. If you have specific wishes the standard form does not cover, such as preferences about pain management, organ donation, or particular treatments you do or do not want, write them in. Make them concrete enough that a physician reading them in an emergency will understand exactly what you mean.¹

Signing With Two Witnesses

Washington requires you to sign the directive in the presence of two witnesses. Notarization is not required. The witnesses then sign a statement confirming that they personally know you (or that you provided proof of identity), that they believe you have the capacity to make health care decisions, and that they saw you sign voluntarily.¹

Not everyone can serve. The statute disqualifies:

Anyone related to you by blood or marriage.
Anyone who would inherit part of your estate, whether through your will or by default under state law.
Your attending physician, employees of that physician, and employees of the health facility where you are a patient.

Good witness candidates are friends, neighbors, coworkers, or members of your faith community who have no financial or professional stake in your medical decisions.¹

What to Do With It Once It’s Signed

A directive nobody can find during an emergency is a directive that does not work. Give copies to:

Your primary care physician, who will add it to your permanent medical record.
Any hospital or care facility where you regularly receive treatment.
Close family members or a designated health care agent, so they can produce the document if you are taken to an unfamiliar facility.

Keep the original somewhere safe but reachable. A fireproof home safe works. A safe-deposit box that no one else can open in an emergency does not.

The State Registry

Washington runs an electronic Health Care Directive Registry through the Department of Health. Registration is optional. If you use it, medical providers can search the system around the clock and retrieve your directive when you are incapacitated and your paper copies cannot be located. The registry also lets you revoke a stored directive online.²

If You Travel or Move

Advance directive portability across state lines is not guaranteed. Most states will honor an out-of-state directive, but some require the document to meet their own execution rules on witnesses, notarization, or specific statutory language. If you split time between Washington and another state, or plan to relocate, consider signing a directive that complies with each state’s laws. At a minimum, carry a copy of your Washington directive when you travel.

When the Directive Becomes Operative

Signing a directive does not change your current medical care. It sits inactive until two things happen: a physician diagnoses you with a qualifying condition, and life-sustaining treatment would only artificially prolong the dying process. A terminal condition must be diagnosed in writing by your attending physician. A permanent unconscious condition requires written diagnoses from two physicians.¹

Before acting on the directive, your attending physician must make a reasonable effort to confirm that it complies with the statute and, if you can still make decisions at that point, that it still reflects your current wishes.³

Changing or Canceling It Later

You can revoke your directive at any time, regardless of your mental state or competency. Washington law gives you four ways:

Physically destroy the document yourself, or have someone destroy it in your presence and at your direction.
Sign and date a written revocation. It takes effect when your attending physician is notified.
Verbally tell someone you want to revoke it. The revocation becomes effective once your attending physician is informed, and the doctor must record the time, date, and place in your medical record.
If you registered the directive with the Department of Health, revoke it through the online method the registry provides. Skipping this step does not invalidate a revocation you made another way.

To change your instructions rather than cancel them, the cleanest approach is to revoke the old directive and sign a new one.²

A Living Will Is Not a POLST

Washington also uses a Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment form, and it is worth knowing the difference before you assume your living will covers every scenario. A living will records future preferences and sits dormant until you develop a qualifying condition. A POLST is an actual medical order signed by a physician that gives emergency responders and hospital staff immediate treatment instructions based on your current health, covering things like resuscitation, intubation, antibiotics, and artificial feeding.⁴

A POLST is meant for people who already have a serious illness or advanced frailty, not for routine advance planning by a generally healthy person. A living will alone does not bind paramedics in an emergency the way a POLST does. If you have both documents, the POLST translates the wishes in your living will into physician orders first responders can act on right away.

1
Washington State Legislature. RCW 70.122.030 – Directive to Withhold or Withdraw Life-Sustaining Treatment
2
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 70.122 RCW – Natural Death Act
3
Washington State Legislature. RCW 70.122.060 – Procedures by Physician
4
Washington State Department of Health. Portable Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST)