POLST Legislative Guide

Abstract

The development of the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Paradigm has generated range of legal/regulatory questions that have been answered in a variety of ways by states – by clinical consensus, sometimes by legislation or regulation, and sometimes by guidance. Drawing upon the experience of the states that have implemented POLST Paradigm by 2013, the National POLST Paradigm Task Force (NPPTF), with assistance from two individual members of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), convened a legislative working group to review the recurring policy, legislative and regulatory issues and the responses of states developing POLST Programs to those issues. The result of that process is this POLST Legislative Guide which we hope will facilitate a better understanding of the issues, options available, and best practices.

Keywords: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, POLST, physician, dying, NPPTF, legislative, end-of-life, legal, barrier, authorized surrogate, surrogate, health care agent, guardian, Advance Directive, medical, patient, health law, CPR, medical intervention, DNR, MOLST, MOST, hospital, death

JEL Classification: H51, I1, I11, I12, I18, I31, K32, K3, K1