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Ohio Living Will

An Ohio Living Will is a legal document that you create to express your wishes for end-of-life care and to name someone who will make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated.

An Ohio Living Will contains your wishes with regard to life-sustaining treatment, such as when it should be continued and when it should be withdrawn or withheld. Under Ohio law, the authority to make decisions based upon the Living Will only happens when you become terminally ill or unconscious, and are unable to make decisions on your own behalf.

Specific measures it can address include:

• The use of "comfort care" such as nutrition or hydration, and any other medical or nursing procedure, treatment, intervention or other measure taken to diminish your pain or discomfort which do not postpone death.
• The use of "life saving measures," which include any medical procedures, treatments, interventions, or other measures that serve to prolong your life to the fullest extent possible under the circumstances.

You can also name someone to serve as your Health Care Agent in your Ohio Living Will. This person will make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make decisions for yourself.

You may use the free Rocket Lawyer Ohio Living Will document builder to create your own Living Will. This document allows you to declare your wishes regarding the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures under certain circumstances in Ohio. You can use the Rocket Lawyer Ohio Living Will document if:

• You want to specify your wishes for end-of-life care.
• You are facing the possibility of surgery or hospitalization.
• You have declining health.
• You have been diagnosed with a terminal condition.

You'll want to set aside enough time to complete your document and to figure out whether you will have it notarized or witnessed.

Notarizing an Ohio Living Will is one of two ways to make it legally enforceable. The second way to give a Living Will legal authority pursuant to Ohio law, is to sign it in the presence of two witnesses who are not related to you (the declarant) by:

• Blood
• Marriage
• Adoption

The witnesses must also not be:

• The declarant's attending physician, or
• The administrator of any nursing home where the declarant is receiving care.

An Ohio Living Will does not have to be recorded, but it can be. Under Ohio law, a Living Will becomes legally effective when it is either notarized or is signed in the presence of two witnesses that meet the criteria outlined in the question above.