Ohio MOLST Form: What You Need to Know About Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment

If you're searching for an Ohio MOLST form, you need to know something upfront: Ohio does not have a standardized, statewide Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) program with statutory backing. Legislative efforts to codify one — including Senate Bill 165 — stalled in the General Assembly due to disagreements among lawmakers and advocacy groups. That doesn't mean Ohio residents are without options, but the path is different from what you might expect if you're familiar with POLST programs in other states.

What MOLST and POLST Are Supposed to Do

In states that have adopted them, POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) or MOLST forms translate a seriously ill patient's values into actionable medical orders. Unlike advance directives, which are patient-authored documents, POLST/MOLST forms are physician-signed orders that travel with the patient and direct treatment decisions about hospitalization, intubation, feeding tubes, ICU transfers, and antibiotics.

The key difference: a Living Will activates only when you're terminally ill or permanently unconscious. A POLST/MOLST order covers a broader range of scenarios and is designed for people already living with serious illness or frailty. It tells medical teams across every setting — hospital, nursing home, ambulance, home hospice — exactly what level of intervention to provide.

What Ohio Actually Has Instead

While Ohio lacks a statewide MOLST statute, it does have two mechanisms that cover related ground:

The State of Ohio DNR Comfort Care Order is Ohio's primary portable medical order for resuscitation decisions. It comes in two classifications: DNR Comfort Care (effective immediately upon signing) and DNR Comfort Care – Arrest (effective only when cardiac or respiratory arrest occurs). This order is governed by OAC Chapter 3701-62 and must be signed by a physician, APRN, or PA. EMS is legally required to follow it when valid identification is present.

Localized clinical protocols exist at some Ohio health systems and coalitions. The Honoring Wishes Task Force and certain hospital networks use internal MOLST-style conversation frameworks to document patient preferences for treatment intensity. However, these are facility-specific clinical tools — they don't carry the same legal portability as a state-backed POLST form. A MOLST conversation at one Ohio hospital may not automatically transfer to another system's EMS or emergency department.

Why the Distinction Matters

If you're in a state with a statutory POLST program, paramedics and ER doctors know exactly what that brightly colored form means and are legally obligated to follow it. In Ohio, the DNR Comfort Care form has that legal force. But preferences about feeding tubes, ICU admission, or antibiotic use — the broader decisions a POLST would cover — need to be documented through your advance directives instead.

That means getting two documents right:

A Living Will Declaration (ORC Chapter 2133) records your specific treatment preferences for terminal conditions and permanent unconsciousness — whether to continue life-sustaining treatment, whether to permit artificial nutrition and hydration, and under what conditions to withdraw interventions.

A Health Care Power of Attorney (ORC Chapter 1337) names someone you trust to make the medical decisions a MOLST form would otherwise capture. Your agent can consent to or refuse hospitalization, feeding tubes, ventilation, and other treatments — but only if you've given them that authority in a properly executed HCPOA.

Together, these two documents plus a DNR order (if appropriate) cover the same ground that a single POLST form handles in other states. The difference is that Ohio splits these functions across multiple documents, each with its own execution requirements.

Execution Requirements You Can't Skip

For your Ohio advance directives to hold up:

• You must be at least 18 and of sound mind when you sign
• Your signature must be witnessed by two qualified adults OR acknowledged before a notary public
• Witnesses cannot be your healthcare agent, a relative by blood/marriage/adoption, your attending physician, or the administrator of your nursing facility
• The DNR order specifically must be signed by an authorized provider (physician, APRN, or PA) — it's a medical order, not a patient document

Getting the witnessing wrong is one of the most common reasons Ohio advance directives are challenged or rejected by healthcare facilities. Hospitals will ask to review the original documents, and if the signing doesn't meet statutory requirements, they may decline to follow them.

What to Do Right Now

If you came here looking for a downloadable Ohio MOLST form, here's the practical path forward:

1. Talk with your doctor about your treatment preferences for serious illness — hospitalization thresholds, feeding tubes, ventilation, ICU transfer. This is the conversation a MOLST form would structure.
2. Document those preferences in a Living Will and Health Care Power of Attorney that meet Ohio's execution requirements.
3. If you want to prevent CPR specifically, ask your provider to complete the official State of Ohio DNR Comfort Care order form.
4. Distribute copies to your healthcare agent, primary care physician, any facility providing your care, and keep one accessible at home.

The Ohio Advance Directive & Living Will Kit covers every document, explains Ohio's witnessing rules, and includes the coordination steps between your Living Will, HCPOA, and DNR that replace a MOLST form under current Ohio law.

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