(A)
(1) An adult who is of sound mind voluntarily may execute at any time a declaration governing the use or continuation, or the withholding or withdrawal, of life-sustaining treatment. The declaration shall be signed at the end by the declarant or by another individual at the direction of the declarant, state the date of its execution, and either be witnessed as described in division (B)(1) of this section or be acknowledged by the declarant in accordance with division (B)(2) of this section. The declaration may include a designation by the declarant of one or more persons who are to be notified by the declarant's attending physician at any time that life-sustaining treatment would be withheld or withdrawn pursuant to the declaration. The declaration may include a specific authorization for the use or continuation or the withholding or withdrawal of CPR, but the failure to include a specific authorization for the withholding or withdrawal of CPR does not preclude the withholding or withdrawal of CPR in accordance with sections 2133.01 to 2133.15 or sections 2133.21 to 2133.26 of the Revised Code.
(2) Depending upon whether the declarant intends the declaration to apply when the declarant is in a terminal condition, in a permanently unconscious state, or in either a terminal condition or a permanently unconscious state, the declarant's declaration shall use either or both of the terms "terminal condition" and "permanently unconscious state" and shall define or otherwise explain those terms in a manner that is substantially consistent with the provisions of section 2133.01 of the Revised Code.
(3)
(a) If a declarant who has authorized the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment intends that the declarant's attending physician withhold or withdraw nutrition or hydration when the declarant is in a permanently unconscious state and when the nutrition and hydration will not or no longer will serve to provide comfort to the declarant or alleviate the declarant's pain, then the declarant shall authorize the declarant's attending physician to withhold or withdraw nutrition or hydration when the declarant is in the permanently unconscious state by doing both of the following in the declaration:
(i) Including a statement in capital letters or other conspicuous type, including, but not limited to, a different font, bigger type, or boldface type, that the declarant's attending physician may withhold or withdraw nutrition and hydration if the declarant is in a permanently unconscious state and if the declarant's attending physician and at least one other physician who has examined the declarant determine, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty and in accordance with reasonable medical standards, that nutrition or hydration will not or no longer will serve to provide comfort to the declarant or alleviate the declarant's pain, or checking or otherwise marking a box or line that is adjacent to a similar statement on a printed form of a declaration;
(ii) Placing the declarant's initials or signature underneath or adjacent to the statement, check, or other mark described in division (A)(3)(a)(i) of this section.
(b) Division (A)(3)(a) of this section does not apply to the extent that a declaration authorizes the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment when a declarant is in a terminal condition. The provisions of division (E) of section 2133.12 of the Revised Code pertaining to comfort care shall apply to a declarant in a terminal condition.
(B)
(1) If witnessed for purposes of division (A) of this section, a declaration shall be witnessed by two individuals as described in this division in whose presence the declarant, or another individual at the direction of the declarant, signed the declaration. The witnesses to a declaration shall be adults who are not related to the declarant by blood, marriage, or adoption, who are not the attending physician of the declarant, and who are not the administrator of any nursing home in which the declarant is receiving care. Each witness shall subscribe the witness' signature after the signature of the declarant or other individual at the direction of the declarant and, by doing so, attest to the witness' belief that the declarant appears to be of sound mind and not under or subject to duress, fraud, or undue influence. The signatures of the declarant or other individual at the direction of the declarant under division (A) of this section and of the witnesses under this division are not required to appear on the same page of the declaration.
(2) If acknowledged for purposes of division (A) of this section, a declaration shall be acknowledged before a notary public, who shall make the certification described in section 147.53 of the Revised Code and also shall attest that the declarant appears to be of sound mind and not under or subject to duress, fraud, or undue influence.
(C) An attending physician, or other health care personnel acting under the direction of an attending physician, who is furnished a copy of a declaration shall make it a part of the declarant's medical record and, when section 2133.05 of the Revised Code is applicable, also shall comply with that section.
(D)
(1) Subject to division (D)(2) of this section, an attending physician of a declarant or a health care facility in which a declarant is confined may refuse to comply or allow compliance with the declarant's declaration on the basis of a matter of conscience or on another basis. An employee or agent of an attending physician of a declarant or of a health care facility in which a declarant is confined may refuse to comply with the declarant's declaration on the basis of a matter of conscience.
(2) If an attending physician of a declarant or a health care facility in which a declarant is confined is not willing or not able to comply or allow compliance with the declarant's declaration, the physician or facility promptly shall so advise the declarant and comply with the provisions of section 2133.10 of the Revised Code, or, if the declaration has become operative as described in division (A) of section 2133.03 of the Revised Code, shall comply with the provisions of section 2133.10 of the Revised Code.
(E) As used in this section, "CPR" has the same meaning as in section 2133.21 of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 03-15-2001
Section: 2133.01 2133.02 2133.03 2133.04 2133.05 2133.06 2133.07 2133.08 2133.09 2133.10 2133.11 2133.12 2133.13 2133.14 2133.15 NextLast modified: October 10, 2016