Living Wills and Advance Directives

The decisions a person makes regarding their healthcare preferences and treatment wishes at the end of life are extremely important. The healthcare community has believed that if the right document were created, many issues and challenges at this time of life would be eliminated. However, challenges still occur. While these documents are indeed vital, the conversations around these decisions and choices are also crucial. We recommend completing these forms and viewing the Living Will and Healthcare Power of Attorney documents as tools for having meaningful advance care planning conversations with your physician and your family members.

Conversations That Light the Way is a workbook designed to assist you in making choices about the kind of health care you want as you journey through the final phases of life. Although this subject can be uncomfortable for many people to address, it is important that each person has the opportunity to make these important choices for themselves.

The workbook contains questions, prompts and information designed to help you consider and discuss choices at the end of life. You may want to revisit this workbook over the years as these conversations take time and your decisions and choices may change.

The complete advance directive booklet, Choices: Living Well at the End of Life, and companion guide, Conversations That Light the Way, are currently being updated and are not available for purchase at this time.

However, you may continue to download and print the current forms. See below.

To Download Advance Directive Forms:
Click here to download Choices: Living Well at the End of Life.

Click here to download Conversations That Light the Way

You can download the most up-to-date forms for making your decisions legally binding (Ohio's Living Will and Health Care Power of Attorney) by clicking HERE.

Access the Spanish version of Health Care Power of Attorney, by clicking here.

Access the Spanish version of the Living Will, by clicking here .

Access the larger print version of the Advance Directives form for the visually impared, by clicking on this link.

Adobe Reader is required to view and print forms/documents.

FAQ's: Living Wills and Advance Directives

1. What is an advance directive?
   An advance directive is a written instruction, in a form recognized by state law, that speaks to the provision of health care should a patient be unable to communicate wishes.
2. Why do I need an advance directive?
   Advance directives give you a voice in decisions about your medical care when you are unconscious or too ill to communicate. As long as you are able to express your own decisions, your advance directives will not be used and you can accept or refuse any medical treatment. But if you become seriously ill, you may lose the ability to participate in decisions about your own treatment.
3. Will I need an advance directive to enroll in hospice?
   No. An advance directive helps inform your family, physician and the hospice team of the kind of care you would want if you were no longer able to decide for yourself.
4. What laws govern the use of advance directives?
   Both federal and state laws govern the use of advance directives. The federal law, the Patient Self-Determination Act, requires health care facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funds to inform patients of their rights to execute advance directives. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have laws recognizing the use of advance directives. The booklet, Questions and Answers: Advance Directives and End-of-Life Decisions, available from Choice In Dying, offers more information about advance directives.
5. What is a living will?
   A living will is a document that specifies what life-saving and life-sustaining care a person wants and does not want to receive if the person becomes permanently unconscious and/or and terminally ill.
6. What is a DNR?
   A DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) Order is a legal document, signed by a physician which informs other caregivers that the patient does not want cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if the heart and/or breathing stops.
7. Can I get hospice care without a DNR order?
   Yes, a patient can receive hospice care without a DNR order. Hospice patients are encouraged, however, to get a DNR order from their physician or the hospice as soon as possible after admission. Having a DNR order makes it clear to the family and professional caregivers that the patient does not seek to extend life through artificial means.
8. Will CPR be performed automatically should my heart and/or breathing stop?
   If you have a DNR stating that you wish to forego CPR, then it will not be performed. In the vast majority of cases, CPR is not successful and does not benefit those that are in advanced stage illness. Oftentimes those that are revived can be left with painful or debilitating injuries such as cracked ribs, potential for brain damage, and organ puncture. This is due to the frail nature of the body in advanced stage illness, combined with the elements involved in CPR (forceful pressing on the chest, electric shocks to re-start the heart, and artificial breathing tubes placed in the nose or down the throat). The patient will ultimately need to decide if CPR is right for them by discussing this with their family and/or doctor.