Make your health care wishes known
Create an Oregon health care directive with FindLaw’s attorney-created forms and easy step-by-step process.
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Make your health care wishes known so you stay in control of your treatment with a health care directive. Ensure comprehensive protection for you and your loved ones and secure your future with an estate planning forms package.
Health Care Directive
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A reliable way to create an Oregon health care directive
If you don’t have a health care directive and are left unable to communicate due to an illness or accident and are not expected to recover, doctors will look to your family to make medical decisions regarding your care. These family members will dictate the end-of-life care you receive, even if they are unaware of your wishes. A health care directive created using FindLaw’s attorney-approved tools provides your doctors and loved ones with clear answers on how to approach your end-of-life medical treatment when you can’t speak for yourself.
FindLaw provides everything you need:
How it works
The process takes less than an hour, and you can complete it from the comfort of your home.
Create an account
Create a secure account which is accessible through an easy dashboard you can access any time
Gather information
Decide who will be your health care agent/proxy, which treatments you would request or refuse and release your records
Complete your document
Answer all questions, then we’ll generate your digital documents for downloading, printing, and signing
Make it legal
Print and sign your document according to instructions. Give copies to your doctors and agent/proxy
Plan for your future with confidence
This free guide will help you:
Learn the most common estate planning terms
Understand the essential estate planning tools
Gather critical information with an estate planning checklist
What steps should I take to make my Oregon health care directive valid?
Follow these steps:
Choose when you would like medical treatment to be limited or withdrawn
A health care directive, sometimes referred to as an “advance directive” or “living will”, instructs your doctor and loved ones on which types of life-sustaining care you should receive if you are suffering from a terminal illness or injury and can’t make your own medical decisions. Other situations where you will need someone else to make medical decisions on your behalf, such as if you have been temporarily incapacitated following an accident, should be addressed using a power of attorney for health care.
Common end-of-life treatments often addressed in health care directives include:
- When cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be administered
- The use of a respirator if you can’t breathe on your own
- Taking food or liquids through a feeding tube
- Surgery or invasive diagnostic tests
- The treatment of infections with antibiotics or other medication
- How long you should receive dialysis, if needed
- Life support if you are experiencing permanent severe pain
- Whether you would like your organs, tissue, or body to be donated
Regardless of the choices you make, your health care providers are required to keep you clean and comfortable while you are alive.
Decide if you want to give someone health care power of attorney
When you give someone power of attorney for your health care you are letting them serve as your agent or representative and empowering them to make health care decisions if you can’t do so yourself. You can also grant someone power of attorney to make medical decisions regarding your care if you are still able to communicate, but want someone else to take over the responsibilities over overseeing your medical care.
Someone who has been given healthcare power of attorney is usually empowered to make the following decisions on your behalf:
- The type of medical care you should receive and when it should be withdrawn
- The hospital or other facility where you will be treated
- The doctors or other medical professionals who will provide treatment
- Whether you should be moved to a nursing home or other long-term care facility
Write your health care directive
You can either draft your health care directive yourself or using a service like FindLaw’s, but Oregon requires that a health care directive be in writing to be valid. Additionally, when you create your health care directive you should be sure to clearly identify yourself using your full legal name.
You can make the terms of your health care directive as broad or narrow as you would like, so long as your doctors and loved ones can easily discern your intentions. For example, you may simply say that you do not want your life to be prolonged by life support and that you would like to die naturally. You can also ask that specific treatments be used or withdrawn and in which situations you would like that to happen. Finally, you can ask that specific treatments only be used for as long as the doctor recommends.
Sign your health care directive
You are required to sign your health care directive for it to be valid. Your signature must also be notarized or witnessed by two qualified individuals. To qualify as a witness, the person must be at least 18 years old and can’t be your doctor, health care provider, or a person to whom you have given health care power of attorney.
Distribute copies
As a general rule, the more people who have access to copies of your health care directive, the better. At minimum, you should provide a copy to your primary doctor and any medical facility where you expect to receive treatment. If you have given someone medical power of attorney, you should provide them with a copy, along with members of your family. Finally, you should keep a copy with your important papers and take one with you while you are traveling.
Providing your doctor with a copy of your health care directive in advance will also give you the opportunity to answer any questions they may have and for you to establish that the doctor is comfortable administering treatment that complies with your wishes.
Oregon health care directive frequently asked questions
A health care directive is a key estate planning document because it tells your doctors and loved ones how you would like to be treated if you have been rendered permanently unable to communicate with no hope of recovery. Even if you have made it clear to your family that you would like to stop treatment if you are unresponsive and not going to recover, actually asking that care be withheld can be stressful and upsetting for your loved ones. With a health care directive, they can be spared from having to make those difficult decisions on your behalf.
A health care directive also helps avoid disputes between family members over how you would like to be treated if you are terminally ill and unresponsive. These disputes can create rifts and animosity between family members that can sometimes end up being decided in court.
An Oregon health care directive is a document that specifies the medical treatment you would like to receive if you are unable to communicate and are suffering from an illness or injuries from which you will not recover. It provides guidance and comfort to your loved ones and ensures that they will not need to make difficult end-of-life choices on your behalf.
Common end-of-life healthcare procedures that are often addressed in Oregon health care directives include:
- CPR
- Breathing tubes or ventilators
- Feeding tubes
- Dialysis
- Life support that could cause you to experience permanent severe pain
- Donating organs, tissue, and your body
A living will serves a different purpose than your last will and testament. Your will tells your survivors how you would like your property to be distributed after you die and how you would like your loved ones to be cared for. A living will, also called a health care directive, takes effect while you are still alive and provides your family and doctors with guidance on your medical treatment if you are dying and unable to communicate.
To create a health care directive in Oregon, you must be at least 18 years old and of sound mind. However, someone who is married or emancipated is allowed to make their health care directive before they turn 18.
In Oregon your health care directive only goes into effect if you are dying or permanently unresponsive. If you would like someone else to dictate your care during times that you are unresponsive, but expected to recover, you should give that person health care power of attorney. For example, if you are unconscious following a car accident, but doctors expect you to pull through, someone with power of attorney could take control of your care. Your health care directive would not come into play in that situation because you are expected to recover and it only addresses end-of-life care.
You have the power to revoke your health care directive at any time. This can be accomplished by either creating and signing a new health care directive (including witness signatures) or by communicating your intentions to your health care provider or person to whom you have given medical power of attorney.
You can create a legal Oregon health care directive without using an attorney by either crafting the document yourself or by using a convenient service like FindLaw’s.
FindLaw is not a law firm, and the forms are not a substitute for the advice or services of an attorney. If you are concerned that your health care directive is going to be challenged by your family or other interested individuals, you may want to contact a local attorney to get your questions answered and walk through all of the options.
You may want to speak with a lawyer if:
- Your family disagrees with your medical choices
- You don’t know who to appoint as your agent
- You have questions about life prolonging measures
- You want legal review of your completed document