When a person chooses to make a Living Will, along with the Medical Power of Attorney, these two legal documents become an Advance Directive.
An Advance Directive may include your sign, names of witnesses, their signatures, etc. in adherence to your state’s requirements. Every state has different requirements to be followed. Some states ask for witnesses and notaries, others look for different criteria to be followed.
Likewise, some states consider Living Will and Advance Directive as different and separate documents, whereas others consider both documents the same. In some states, Living Will and Advance Directive are used interchangeably.
In this article, you will get a complete guide for making an Advance Directive for Healthcare in Ohio.
Legal Requirements for a valid Advance Directive
- Written by the grantor (maker of Advance Directive): Yes
- Grantor must be:
- Above the age of 18 years: Yes
- Sound mind and memory: Yes
- Signed by the grantor: Yes
- Signed by Proxy/Agent: No
- Proxy/agent accepts his role in writing: No
- Witness required: Yes
- Number of witnesses: 2
- Signed by the witnesses: Yes
- Number of documents required: 2 (Advance Directive Form + Organ Donation Form)
- Other names for a Living Will in Ohio: Living Will Declaration
- Other names for a Healthcare Power of attorney in Ohio: Healthcare Power of attorney
- Proxy can decide on mental health issues: No
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Who can be your witnesses in the Ohio Advance Directive?
Anyone can be your witness in Ohio if;
- He is an adult i.e., above 18 years of age,&
- He is a sound-minded person which means that he can understand the consequences of making an Advance Directive and the laws applied to it.
Note: Your witnesses cannot be:
- Your healthcare proxy/agent,
- your supervising health care provider/ his employer,
- Related to you by blood, adoption, or marriage within the third degree of consanguinity. (at least one witness).
That means your witness must be more distantly related to you by blood or adoption than your uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, great-grandparents, and great-grandchildren or by marriage than your step uncles, step aunts, step nephews, step nieces, step great grandparents, and step great-grandchildren.
Who can be your Proxy in the Ohio Advance Directive?
Anyone can be your Proxy/Agent in Ohio if;
- He is an adult i.e., above 18 years of age, &
- He is a sound-minded person which means that he can understand the consequences of making an Advance Directive and the laws applied to it.
Who cannot be your Proxy/Agent:
- your supervising health care provider,
- if you are receiving care at a health care institution then its employee.
Unless:
- the employee is related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption within the third degree of consanguinity.
That means your agent must be more distantly related to you by blood or adoption than your uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, great-grandparents, and great-grandchildren or by marriage than your step uncles, step aunts, step nephews, step nieces, step great grandparents, and step great-grandchildren.
Other than the above legal requirements, the Proxy/Agent should be:
- Trustable to adhere to your wishes and intentions.
- Trustable to defend you if there’s any disagreement about your medical care.
- He wanted to be your Attorney in Fact of his own free will to take care of your health affairs.
- He should not be your doctor or one of the caretakers.
Note: You can appoint an Alternate Proxy as well. The alternative Proxy/Agent will step in if the first person you name as a proxy is unable, unwilling, or unavailable to act for you or if you decide to revoke his authority.
Notarization required for Ohio Advance Directive?
You can either get an Advance Directive executed by signing the form in the presence of the witnesses or get your signature notarized by signing an acknowledgment in front of the public notary.
Learn about the requirements of Ohio Last Will and Testament and Ohio Last Will and Testament Template.
When does an Advance Directive come into effect in Ohio?
In Ohio, an Advance Directive becomes legally valid but doesn’t come into effect on signing the form by the grantor, proxy, and witnesses.
An Advance directive comes into effect only when the doctor declares that you are incapable of deciding on your behalf and have become debilitated due to illness or injury.
Note: Your Ohio Advance Directive will not be effective in any medical crisis or emergency unless you become incapacitated to understand and communicate your wishes and consent.
How can an Advance Directive be revoked?
You can revoke or terminate your Ohio Advance Directive anytime in any way either by:
- A written revocation,
- An oral revocation, &
- Tearing, burning, and obliterating or destroying the document in any other way or directing anyone to destroy it in your presence,
- Executing a new Advance Directive.
Note: Your revocation becomes effective when you, or someone else, communicate this revocation to your attending physician. If you decide to declare a designee to make choices regarding the final disposition of your remains, you may only revoke that power in a signed writing.
How to amend or change an Advance Directive?
You can make changes or amend your Advance Directive at any time in Ohio but once you have signed and witnessed/notarized it you have to remake a new document with the required changes.
It is recommended to go through, double-check, and make sure of everything before signing the Advance Directive.
Ohio rules for divorce after making your Advance Directive
Divorce from the spouse will not make any effect on the validity of the Ohio Advance Directive unless the spouse was named in Part 1 as the Proxy/Agent then and your marriage ends, your agent’s power is automatically revoked.
Forms of the Ohio Advance Directive
Form 1: Healthcare Power of attorney
You can fill this form out and provide all the details. The appointment of the Healthcare Proxy/Agent and his details will be filled along with the instructions for the Proxy/Agent to follow.
In the original form, you will find a gray box on the left side that contains all the instructions that will help you in the application process.
Form 2: Living Will Declaration
This section states your wishes regarding medical care when your doctor determines that either
- that you are terminally ill & to prolong artificially your life you would need artificial life-sustaining procedures or your death will occur with or without the use of life-sustaining procedures, or
- that you are in a persistent vegetative state.
Form 3: Donor Registry Enrollment
Give photocopies of the signed original to your agent and alternate agent, doctor(s), family, close friends, clergy, and anyone else who might become involved in your health care. If you enter a nursing home or hospital, have photocopies of your document placed in your medical records.
Be sure to talk to your agent(s), doctor(s), clergy, family, and friends about your wishes concerning medical treatment. Discuss your wishes with them often, particularly if your medical condition changes.
