Refusal to make anatomical gift · Ohio
Ohio: how to refuse organ donation
If you came here to get off the registry
Is removing the donor designation enough in Ohio?
Taking your name off the organ donor registry is a revocation. So is removing the designation from your driver’s license. Under Ohio Rev. Code § 2108.08, Ohio law treats a revocation and a refusal as two different things, and only the refusal settles it.
A revocation withdraws the gift you made. It does not stop anyone else from making the gift for you. Only a refusal does that, and Ohio Rev. Code § 2108.07 is the section that says so. It has to be signed.
Both provisions are quoted in full below, from Ohio’s own code.
What Ohio asks
What you need to make a refusal in Ohio
- Act
- 2006 revision
- Enforcement
- An unrevoked refusal bars all other persons from making the gift.
- Signing it yourself
- No witnesses required by the statute.
- If someone signs at your direction
- Two adults who have signed at the individual’s request. Neither has to be disinterested; Ohio dropped that requirement, so both may be family members.
- Notary
- Not required.
- Ohio law
- Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2108.07, 2108.08
- Statute read
- 2026-09-02
Refusal to make anatomical gift · Action by person other than donor
The statute itself
Quoted from Ohio’s enacted code, in full and unedited.
How a refusal is made (A)
An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part by doing any of the following: (1) Indicating a refusal in a record signed by either of the following: (a) The individual; (b) Subject to division (B) of this section, another individual acting at the direction of the individual, if the individual is physically unable to sign. (2) Indicating a refusal by any form of communication made by the individual during the individual's terminal illness or injury addressed to a minimum of two adults.
Ohio Rev. Code § 2108.07
How it must be witnessed (B)
A record signed pursuant to division (A)(1)(b) of this section shall do both of the following: (1) Be witnessed by at least two adults who have signed at the request of the individual; (2) State that it has been signed and witnessed as provided in division (B)(1) of this section.
Ohio Rev. Code § 2108.07
What an unrevoked refusal does (D)
Except as provided in division (E) of this section, in the absence of an express, contrary indication by the individual set forth in the refusal, an individual's unrevoked refusal to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part bars all other persons from making an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part.
Ohio Rev. Code § 2108.07
A revocation is not a refusal (B)
A donor's revocation of an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under section 2108.06 of the Revised Code is not a refusal and shall not bar another person specified in section 2108.04 or 2108.09 of the Revised Code from making an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under section 2108.05 or 2108.10 of the Revised Code.
Ohio Rev. Code § 2108.08