Health care directive in Oregon: form, signing and who decides
The form, who can witness, who can be your agent and who decides if you have no directive in Oregon.
Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.
Short answer
Oregon Advance Directive for Health Care
- How to sign
- Notarized or signed by two adult witnesses
- Who decides without a directive
- Yes
The document and its form
- Document
- Oregon Advance Directive for Health Care
- Official form
- Oregon Advance Directive for Health Care (ORS 127.529) and Form for Appointing Health Care Representative and Alternate Health Care Representative (ORS 127.527)Published by Oregon Health AuthorityVersion: OHA 3905, revision code 01/04/2022 printed in the footer; text from Senate Bill 199 (2021), Oregon Laws 2021 chapter 328
- Living will
Sections 3 and 4 of the Oregon Advance Directive for Health Care
Part of the directive.
Oregon does not use a separate living will form. In the advance directive you write your values, beliefs, goals and wishes for care, and you may attach extra pages, which become part of the directive. The advance directive is not a POLST medical order.
Law: ORS 127.515, 127.527, 127.529; ORS 127.505(2), 127.529
Signing rules
- How to sign
Sign the advance directive and either have two qualified adults witness it and sign, or have it notarized. Your health care representative's appointment takes effect only when they accept it, for example by signing the acceptance section.
- Who signs
Signed by you (a capable adult).
- Notary
- A notary or witnesses (your choice)
- Witnesses
- 2 (instead of a notary)
- Who cannot witness
Two adults must witness you signing, or you acknowledging your signature. On the date you sign, a witness may not be your attending physician or attending health care provider, or your health care representative or alternate health care representative.
- Nursing facilities and special settings
If you use witnesses and you are a patient in a long term care facility when you sign, one witness must be a person designated by the facility and qualified under Department of Human Services rules.
Law: ORS 127.510, 127.515, 127.525
Who can be your agent and what the agent can do
- Who cannot be your agent
Unless related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, these people cannot be your health care representative: your attending physician or attending health care provider or their employee; an owner, operator or employee of a health care facility where you are a patient or resident (unless you appointed them before you were admitted). A parent or former guardian is also barred if a juvenile court removed you from their care or terminated their parental rights. You can disqualify anyone in a signed writing.
Law: ORS 127.520
- When the agent starts
Your health care representative can make decisions only when you are incapable, and only after accepting the appointment. The appointment lasts until you die or revoke it, unless you set a shorter period.
Law: ORS 127.510, 127.535
- Decisions an agent cannot make
A health care representative cannot consent to convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization or abortion. They cannot withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures unless you gave that authority or you are medically confirmed to be in one of the listed end-of-life conditions, and there are limits on withdrawing tube feeding. If you object to withholding or withdrawing life support, your objection controls.
Law: ORS 127.535(5), 127.540
Revoking and conflicting documents
- Revoking your agent
A capable adult can revoke an advance directive or a representative's decision at any time and in any manner. Signing a new appointment form revokes the earlier one, unless it says otherwise.
- Revoking your instructions
A decision to withhold or withdraw life support or tube feeding can be revoked at any time in any way you can communicate it, even if you are not capable. Revocation takes effect when you tell your attending physician or provider or your health care representative.
- Telling others
If you tell your health care representative while you are incapable, the representative must promptly inform your attending physician or provider, who must put the revocation in your medical record.
- Divorce ends a spouse's authority
- Yes · Divorce rules in Oregon (Divorce Law Map)
- Conflicting documents
Unless the document says otherwise, a new advance directive revokes earlier ones. If an advance directive and a separate appointment form conflict, the one signed last controls. A declaration for mental health treatment controls over an advance directive where they conflict.
Law: ORS 127.545(4)-(6)
Law: ORS 127.545
If you have no directive
- Who decides without a directive
This list applies to decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures when you are incapable, have no appointed health care representative or valid advance directive, and are medically confirmed to be in one of the listed end-of-life conditions. If no one is available, the attending physician or provider decides. The person chosen must first consult concerned family and close friends. For other medically necessary care in a hospital, a hospital may appoint a trained health care provider to give informed consent.
Law: ORS 127.760
- A guardian authorized to make health care decisions
- Spouse
- An adult chosen by the others on this list, if none of them objects
- A majority of adult children who can be located
- Either parent
- A majority of adult siblings who can be located
- Any adult relative or adult friend
Law: ORS 127.635, 127.760
Other states, registry and medical orders
- Signed in another state
An advance directive or appointment made by a resident of another state that follows that state's law, the law of the place where it was signed, or Oregon law is valid in Oregon.
Law: ORS 127.515(6)
- POLST (medical orders)
POLST (physician order for life-sustaining treatment), with a statewide POLST Registry run by the Oregon Health Authority
- Mental health directive
You can make a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment and name an attorney-in-fact for mental health decisions. It must be signed with two competent adult witnesses or notarized. A witness cannot be your attending physician or provider or their relative, an owner or operator of your facility or their relative, your relative by blood, marriage or adoption, or the attorney-in-fact you name. It lasts three years unless revoked, and longer if you are incapable at that time. Where it conflicts with an advance directive, it controls.
Law: ORS 127.702, 127.707; ORS 127.545(6)
Law: ORS 127.663, 127.666
Free notice: revoke or change a health care directive
Free help in Oregon
- Oregon Law Help (legal aid information and directory)
- Legal Aid Services of Oregon
- Oregon Health Authority: Advance Directive Forms and User's Guide
- Oregon Judicial Department (Columbia County): Adult guardianship filing packet
Report abuse or exploitation
Oregon Department of Human Services abuse hotline (older adults and vulnerable adults) · 1-855-503-7233
Questions about powers of attorney in Oregon
How do I sign a health care directive in Oregon?
Sign the advance directive and either have two qualified adults witness it and sign, or have it notarized. Your health care representative's appointment takes effect only when they accept it, for example by signing the acceptance section.
Who decides my health care if I have no directive in Oregon?
This list applies to decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures when you are incapable, have no appointed health care representative or valid advance directive, and are medically confirmed to be in one of the listed end-of-life conditions.