End-of-life care innovation spreads from Oregon to other states

End-of-life care innovation spreads from Oregon to other states | OregonLive.com: An end-of-life care innovation developed in Oregon is drawing more national attention and support, including a $597,765 grant. Oregon doctors developed the POLST form -- Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment -- in the 1990s to address shortcomings of other advance directives, such as living wills or notes in medical charts. Very ill or elderly people create those directives to outline treatment they want to have or avoid in a medical crisis.

But those forms can be hard to find in an emergency or too vague to be useful. In contrast, POLST forms are brightly colored for visibility and have check-boxes to record specific preferences for several treatments, including the use of antibiotics, oxygen, feeding tubes and intravenous hydration.