As you grow older, you slowly realize that you need to make plans for your future. While a last will and testament can help safeguard your family’s inheritance, a living will can help secure your end-of-life medical decisions.
In this blog, we will share two frequently asked questions about living wills in Ohio:
How does a living will work?
When you have a valid living will, you can make your own medical treatment and end-of-life care decisions for your future incapacity. Three common examples of these decisions may include:
- Pain management
- Artificial tube feeding and hydration
- Organ and tissue donation
Your Ohio living will can also discuss whether you consent or refuse the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Can I decide when my doctors can use my document?
Your doctors cannot refer to your document’s directives while you are still physically and mentally competent to make your own medical decisions. Under Ohio law, your living will shall become applicable only when:
- You have suffered from an incurable condition caused by either a disease, an illness or an injury; or
- You are in an irreversible, unconscious state in which two physicians have agreed that you have lost your higher brain function and cannot feel pain any longer.
When either of these conditions arise, your family members and health care providers can begin honoring your end-of-life directives.
Your future medical care decisions should be yours to make
By understanding how a living will works and choosing to create one for yourself, you can make informed choices about how you wish to be taken care of by your doctors and your loved ones in the future.
