How to Fill Out Oregon Advance Directive: Step-by-Step Guide to Form OHA 3905

Oregon's statutory Advance Directive is 11 pages long, dense with legal language, and easy to fill out wrong. The official form (OHA 3905) is free from the Oregon Health Authority website, but the document itself offers minimal guidance on how to actually complete it.

Here's what each section requires and where most people make mistakes.

The Current Form: Post-SB 199

Senate Bill 199 updated Oregon's Advance Directive statute in 2022, changing the form format and some requirements. If you're working from a pre-2022 template downloaded from a national legal website, it likely doesn't match the current statutory format. Always use the updated Form OHA 3905 or a kit built specifically around the post-SB 199 version.

Section by Section

Section 1: About Me

Straightforward — your legal name, date of birth, and contact information. Use the name that appears on your government ID, not a nickname.

Section 2: Health Care Representative

This is where you appoint the person who will make medical decisions when you can't. You can name one primary representative and up to two alternates.

Disqualification rules: Your HCR cannot be your treating healthcare provider, or an owner, operator, or employee of the healthcare facility where you receive care — unless they're related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption.

What to include: Full legal name, phone numbers (home and cell), address, and email. In an emergency, hospital staff need to reach your representative quickly.

Section 3: Health Care Instructions

Optional but strongly recommended. This section covers your treatment preferences for three clinical scenarios:

• Terminal condition (death expected within six months)
• Advanced progressive illness (serious, incurable, causing severe disability)
• Permanent unconsciousness (no reasonable chance of regaining awareness)

For each, you choose from: withhold life support, receive all available treatments, receive only artificial nutrition and hydration, or let your representative decide.

Leaving this blank means your representative makes these calls without written guidance — which can create family conflict and put your representative in an impossible position.

Section 4: Additional Instructions

Free-form space for anything Section 3 doesn't cover. Common additions:

• Quality-of-life thresholds (e.g., "if I cannot recognize my family members")
• Pain management preferences (comfort over consciousness, or vice versa)
• Spiritual or religious practices during end-of-life care
• Organ donation wishes
• Green burial or alternative disposition preferences

Be specific. "I want to die with dignity" is too vague to guide medical decisions. "Do not continue treatment if I have been unconscious for more than 14 days with no improvement" gives your representative something concrete to act on.

Section 5: Your Signature

Sign and date the form. You must have the legal capacity to make and communicate healthcare decisions at the time of signing. If there's any question about capacity (due to dementia, medication, or cognitive impairment), resolve it before signing — a directive signed without capacity can be challenged.

Section 6: Witnessing or Notarization

Choose one:

Option A — Two witnesses:

• Both must be adults
• Neither can be your HCR or alternate representative
• Neither can be your treating healthcare provider
• Only one can be a relative, or someone entitled to any portion of your estate

That second-witness rule is the most common stumbling point. Your spouse and your adult child can't both be witnesses if they're both in your will. Your second witness needs to be genuinely impartial — a neighbor, coworker, or friend with no financial interest in your estate.

Option B — Notary public: A notary can validate your signature alone, no witnesses needed. Banks, UPS stores, and some libraries offer notary services in Oregon, typically for $10-$25.

Section 7: Representative Acceptance

Your HCR and alternates must sign this section to accept the role. This is mandatory — an unsigned Section 7 means the appointment is legally ineffective, even if everything else is perfect.

Don't mail the form and assume your representative will sign later. Complete this section together.

Common Mistakes That Invalidate the Form

• Skipping Section 7. The most frequent error. No acceptance signature = no legal representative.
• Both witnesses are relatives or estate beneficiaries. Only Witness A can be related or in the will.
• Using a pre-2022 form. The statutory format changed with SB 199. Hospitals may question older versions.
• Appointing a facility employee. If you're in a nursing home, you can't name a staff member as your HCR unless they're a relative.
• Not distributing copies. A valid form that sits in a desk drawer is useless in an emergency.

After You Complete It

A completed directive is only useful if the right people have it:

1. Give copies to your Health Care Representative and alternates
2. Provide a copy to your primary care physician
3. Upload it to your MyChart or patient portal (Providence, OHSU, Legacy, Kaiser, and Samaritan systems all accept uploaded directives)
4. Keep the original in a visible, accessible location at home — not a locked safe deposit box
5. Consider carrying an emergency wallet card noting that you have a directive and who your HCR is

Get It Done Right the First Time

The Oregon Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes plain-language instructions for every section, a witness selection checklist to prevent disqualification errors, and a distribution tracker so you know exactly who has a copy.

See more Oregon guides →