KHN Article: In Oregon, End-of-Life Wishes Are Just A Click Away
An article in Kaiser Health News, also covered by CNN, discusses Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms and the popularity of the newly available on-line forms in Oregon.
POLST forms document in detail what kind of medical treatments patients want - or don’t want - at the end of life. Nearly every state in the U.S. has a program; dozens are established or developing.
As Dr. Ryan Van Wert points out, "if you come into an ER in distress and you’re unable to speak for yourself, the default is we do everything. So, sick or frail patients who don’t want CPR or intensive care might receive aggressive treatments against their will, simply because medical personnel couldn’t find the forms." Oregon is the first state with one-click access to POLST registry forms.
Among those quoted are John A. Hartford Foundation grantee, Amy Vandenbroucke, executive director of the nonprofit National POLST Paradigm.
To read the article, click here.
To learn more about the National POLST Paradigm, click here.
