To complete an Ohio living will declaration form, download the version published by the Ohio State Bar Association, fill in your identifying information and treatment directives, handle the separate nutrition and hydration authorization carefully, and then either sign in front of two qualifying witnesses or acknowledge your signature before a notary public. Any Ohio resident who is at least 18 and of sound mind can execute one, and once signed it remains in effect indefinitely unless you revoke it. The declaration speaks for you in two situations only: when you are in a terminal condition, or when you are in a permanently unconscious state with no reasonable chance of regaining the ability to make your own decisions.
Where to Get the Form
The Ohio State Bar Association publishes a free advance directives packet that pairs the living will declaration with a health care power of attorney.1Ohio State Bar Association. State of Ohio Advance Directives Major hospital systems also post downloadable versions; the Cleveland Clinic is one example.2Cleveland Clinic. Ohio Living Will Declaration Form County probate courts and local hospitals usually keep printed copies on hand. Whichever version you use, make sure it tracks Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2133, which governs living wills in the state.
Working Through Each Section
Your Information and Opening Statements
Enter your full legal name and date of birth at the top. You will sign a statement confirming you are of sound mind, acting voluntarily, and that you understand what the declaration does.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.02 – Declaration Relating to Use of Life-Sustaining Treatment If you ever executed a prior living will, the form includes language revoking that earlier document. The standard form also asks for up to three emergency contacts, each with a name, relationship, address, and phone number.
Treatment Directives
The core of the form directs your physician to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment if you are in a terminal condition or permanently unconscious. Life-sustaining treatment covers medical procedures or interventions that mainly prolong the dying process rather than cure the underlying condition.1Ohio State Bar Association. State of Ohio Advance Directives The directive authorizes your physician to withhold CPR, mechanical ventilation, and similar interventions; to issue a do-not-resuscitate order; and to take no action to postpone your death.
The form leaves a blank space for additional instructions or limitations. Use it to specify treatments you do want, to describe conditions that would change your preferences, or to add any other detail that matters to you.
Optional Anatomical Gifts
An optional section lets you authorize organ and tissue donation. You can donate everything or pick from a list that includes individual organs, tissues, and corneas, and you can specify whether the donation is for transplantation, therapy, research, education, or all purposes. Leaving this section blank does not affect the rest of the declaration.
The Nutrition and Hydration Section Deserves Extra Care
Artificial nutrition and hydration (feeding tubes and IV fluids) get their own section because Ohio law treats them separately from other life-sustaining treatment. If you want your physician to be able to withhold or withdraw tube feeding when you are permanently unconscious, you have to do two things in the declaration:
- Mark the box next to the statement — printed in capital letters or other conspicuous type — authorizing the withholding or withdrawal of nutrition and hydration.
- Place your initials or signature directly underneath or beside that statement.
Both steps are required. Skip either one and the authorization is incomplete, leaving your physician without legal authority to stop nutrition and hydration.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.02 – Declaration Relating to Use of Life-Sustaining Treatment This is the single most common place people leave the form unfinished and end up with an outcome they did not intend. Even a clear authorization to withdraw every other form of life-sustaining treatment does not reach nutrition and hydration unless this section is handled correctly.
A medical threshold applies too. Your attending physician and at least one other physician must determine, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that nutrition or hydration will not provide comfort or relieve your pain before either can be withheld.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.02 – Declaration Relating to Use of Life-Sustaining Treatment
Signing: Two Witnesses or a Notary
After every section is filled in, sign and date the form. If you are physically unable to sign, someone else can sign on your behalf at your direction. The declaration then needs to be either witnessed or notarized. You choose one or the other.
The Witness Option
If you go the witness route, two adults must watch you (or your designee) sign. Each witness then signs, prints their name, and adds an address and the date. The witnesses are attesting that you appear to be of sound mind and are not acting under duress or undue influence.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.02 – Declaration Relating to Use of Life-Sustaining Treatment Ohio law bars these people from serving as witnesses:
- Anyone related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption
- Your attending physician
- The administrator of any nursing home where you receive care
Friends, neighbors, coworkers, or members of your faith community are common choices.
The Notary Option
Instead of using witnesses, you can acknowledge the declaration before a notary public. The notary verifies your identity, confirms you appear to be of sound mind and free from duress, and applies an official seal.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.02 – Declaration Relating to Use of Life-Sustaining Treatment Banks, UPS stores, and many attorney offices offer notary services, usually for a small fee.
One Statutory Limit to Know About
Ohio law contains a pregnancy exception that overrides what you write. If you are pregnant when a terminal condition or permanently unconscious state arises, life-sustaining treatment cannot be withheld or withdrawn if doing so would end the pregnancy, unless your attending physician and at least one other physician determine, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that the fetus would not be born alive.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.06 This provision applies regardless of what the declaration says. If the issue concerns you, raise it with your physician and consider addressing your preferences in the additional instructions section, keeping in mind that the statute still controls.
Who Needs a Copy
A living will does nothing if nobody can find it. Your most important step after signing is giving a copy to your attending physician. Ohio law requires your doctor to place the declaration, or a copy of it, in your medical record.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.05 – Duty of Attending Physician Give copies to specialists you see regularly so the preferences appear across different facilities. Provide copies to the family members or agents listed on the form, and to your health care power of attorney agent if you have one.
Keep the original somewhere accessible at home. A safe deposit box sounds secure but creates trouble when the document is needed outside banking hours or when nobody else has access. A fireproof home safe or a clearly labeled folder in a desk drawer works better. Some people carry a wallet card or keep a note on their phone showing that the declaration exists and where to find it.
Changing or Canceling It Later
You can revoke a living will at any time and in any manner, whether written, spoken, or any other act that shows your intent to cancel it. No special form is required. If your attending physician already has a copy on file, the revocation takes effect once it is communicated to that physician, whether by you, by someone who witnessed the revocation, or by other medical staff.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.04 – Revocation Your physician must then note the revocation in your medical record.
To change rather than simply cancel your wishes, the cleanest approach is to revoke the existing declaration and execute a new one, following the same signing and witnessing requirements. A new declaration automatically revokes any earlier one unless it says otherwise.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2133.04 – Revocation Track down and destroy copies of the old version wherever you distributed them, including at your doctor’s office and in family members’ files, so there is no confusion later.
The form has no expiration date. Instructions you write at 40 will still govern at 80 unless you update them, so a review after a new marriage, a serious diagnosis, or a shift in your views on end-of-life care is time well spent.