Where to Get a Florida DNR Form: Fill Out, Store, and Cancel

The official Florida DNR form is DH Form 1896, and you can download it free from the Florida Department of Health at floridahealth.gov.¹ Your doctor’s office, a hospital, or a hospice provider can also give you a copy. Before anyone fills it out, the form has to be printed on yellow paper, and it only takes effect once both the patient (or an authorized representative) and a qualifying healthcare provider sign it.

Where to Download the Form

The Department of Health hosts the PDF of DH Form 1896 on its website. Download it, or ask your physician, hospital admissions desk, or hospice for a printed copy. There is no fee either way.¹

Here is the detail that trips people up: the form must be on yellow paper. Any shade of yellow is fine, but white paper will not do. EMS personnel are only required to honor the DNRO when it appears on yellow paper.¹ A yellow copy of a completed, signed original is just as valid as the original itself.² Buy a ream of yellow paper before you print.

Who Can Sign for the Patient

Any patient can ask their physician or physician assistant to issue a DNRO. Florida law does not limit it to people with terminal illnesses, though in practice it is most often used by people with serious or life-limiting conditions.³

If the patient cannot make their own medical decisions, one of the following people can sign in their place:

A healthcare surrogate the patient previously designated in writing.⁴
A healthcare proxy, meaning a competent adult authorized under Florida law to decide for an incapacitated person who never designated a surrogate.⁴
A court-appointed guardian who has specifically been given authority over healthcare decisions.
An attorney in fact acting under a durable power of attorney that expressly grants healthcare decision-making authority.³

General authority is not enough for a guardian or attorney in fact. The paperwork delegating their role has to include healthcare decisions by name.³

How to Fill Out DH Form 1896

The form itself is short. You will need:

The patient’s full legal name, printed or typed
The patient’s date of birth
The signature of the patient or an authorized representative listed above
The signature of the patient’s physician, osteopathic physician, autonomous advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant⁵

No witnesses are required, and the form does not need to be notarized. Once both parties sign, it is legally valid.

Along the bottom of the sheet is a perforated wallet card. Cut it out, fold it, and have both the patient (or authorized representative) and the provider sign that section too.² The card is a portable version EMS can recognize at a glance.

Where to Keep the Form So EMS Will Find It

A signed DNRO nobody can locate is useless in a cardiac arrest. If the yellow form is not presented or visible when paramedics arrive, they will perform CPR. They have to.¹ EMS must honor the order when they see the original yellow form, a yellow copy, or the signed wallet card on the patient.⁵

At home, keep the yellow form somewhere obvious and predictable. The refrigerator door and the bedside area are the two spots EMS personnel know to check. Away from home, carry the signed wallet card with your identification. Give copies to your primary care doctor, any regular specialists, and your hospital, and hand over the form at every hospital admission so it lands in your chart.

What a Florida DNRO Covers and What It Doesn’t

A Florida DNRO is narrow. It tells paramedics and EMTs not to perform CPR if your heart stops or you stop breathing, and that is the whole of it. It says nothing about feeding tubes, ventilators for chronic conditions, pain management, or any other treatment decision.¹

It is also designed for out-of-hospital emergencies. Hospital and hospice staff follow whatever DNR instructions appear in your medical records; paramedics responding to a 911 call are not required to review a living will, an advance directive, or a POLST. The only document they must honor in the field is the yellow DH Form 1896.¹ If you want broader end-of-life instructions covered, that calls for a living will and a healthcare surrogate designation in addition to the DNRO, not instead of it.

How to Cancel a DNRO

You can revoke the order at any time, and no particular formality is required. Florida’s administrative code recognizes several ways to do it:⁵

Tell a paramedic, doctor, or other provider out loud that you want resuscitation.
Write any statement expressing the opposite intent.
Physically destroy the form and wallet card.
Simply do not present the form to EMS, since CPR is the default.
Sign a formal written revocation the same way you signed the original.

If you change your mind, let your doctor know so the revocation is noted in your chart, and destroy every copy of the yellow form you handed out, including ones posted at home and copies given to family. A stray copy can cause real confusion in an emergency where you cannot speak for yourself.

1
Florida Department of Health. Do Not Resuscitate Order
2
Florida Department of Health. Form DH 1896 Do Not Resuscitate Order
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code Title XXIX Chapter 401 Part III Section 401-45
4
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 765.101 – Definitions
5
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R. 64J-2.018 – Do Not Resuscitate Order DNRO Form and Device