Long-term health care planning is a dodgy process in that you must stand firm about how you expect to be cared for in the event of your incapacitation or inability to make critical medical decisions. This process helps people think about the kind of care they wish to receive should you need a spouse, loved one or friend to make these life and death decisions for you. In California, a Power of Attorney for Health Care, also referred to as PACH, is the legal document that allows patients to choose who will speak for them should they become unable to speak for themselves.
Sadly, a health care provider who confronts an emergency situation may lack the time and opportunity to communicate with a terminally ill patient’s chosen representative. For this reason, California law permits treating physicians to confer with their patients to define acceptable types of life-sustaining treatment should a medical decision involving issues of life support arise.
The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, or POLST, converts the patient’s wishes regarding life support into a formal medical order. To make sure that the order has full force and effect the POLST must:
- Be completed by a health care provider based on the patient’s preferences and medical indications
- Be signed by the treating physician and either the patient or the patient’s legally recognized health care decision maker
- Be prepared on a brightly colored pink form that is easily recognized by emergency care providers and hospital staff
- Be filed on the first page of the patient’s medical file and transferred with that file to all future health care providers.
Doctors are required by law to honor the preferences of those patients who have chosen to use this legal document as a guideline that defines appropriate future care. However, the POLST may be changed or even revoked by the physician, patient, or patient’s health care decision maker at any time should the circumstances warrant it.
Do you feel prepared for this type of emergency medical decision-making? If not, contact a qualified Elder Law attorney who can walk you through the process of preparing for this type of situation and avoiding medical mistakes that may mean the difference between life and death.
We’ve blogged about this in the past but with the resurgence of website’s posting free or very cheap legal advice and document preparation we wanted to reiterate the dangers of letting a company that doesn’t know you and hasn’t even consulted with you prepare your will, powers of attorney or other life and death documents. These are the measures that dictate the handling of your care in case of a major medical emergency, how your financial matters will be handled and who your assets will go to. These are not things to take lightly or just let a website’s “quick quiz” handle. We understand that this seems to be the simple, easy and cheap way to handle the preparation of these documents but it’s been proven time and again to be riskier than you might think.
