POLST – The Good Death Society Blog

February 9, 2020

POLSTs and DNR orders are not Advance Directives

Patients complete advance directives without a physician's approval, though they may seek a physician's advice in doing so. Only a physician can issue a DNR order or a POLST, in consultation with the patient or surrogate. So long as the preferences and directives of patients are an integral part of the process, POLSTs appear to be a useful addition to late-stage medical care decision making (Continue reading ...)

March 10, 2019

Refusing unwanted medical treatment–Part 4: Physician liability

In Part 4 of this review of Professor Thaddeus Pope's analysis of liability for a clinician's providing unwanted life-sustaining medical treatment (LSMT), the focus is on on why clinicians perceive that not following a patient's preferences about end-of-life care carries little risk for them and looking at more recent successful causes of action against clinicians. (Continue reading ...)

February 24, 2019

Refusing unwanted medical treatment–Part 2

In Part 1, I provided an actual case of unwanted life-sustaining medical treatment (LSMT), listed Professor Pope's "Twelve Leading Causes of Unwanted Life-Sustaining Treatment," gave the causes of action that may be available for unwanted LSMT, and briefly discussed Physician's Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and other similar documents used in various states. Here, in Part 2, I delve further into Professor Pope's research on unwanted LSMT. (Continue reading ...)

May 13, 2018May 15, 2018

POLST: Avoid The Seven Deadly Sins

The POLST — or Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment — Paradigm has become a powerful tool for identifying and honoring the goals of care of seriously ill or frail individuals. But that power can be turned against patients if health care providers misunderstand or misuse it. Each of these seven deadly sins require resolute reconsideration for redemption. (Continue reading ...)