Making End-of-Life Wishes More Transparent

Jane E. Brody at The New York Times writes about living wills and New York's Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) forms. (The forms, known as POLST in some other states, provide treatment clarification for medical personnel.) She reports on a study that shows confusion about how to interpret living wills outside a hospital setting.

Now a new study confirms that confusion about interpreting living wills prevails in prehospital settings, as well. The study, conducted among 150 emergency medical technicians and paramedics by a team at Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa., and published this month in The Journal of Emergency Medicine, found that concern for patient safety can collide with confusion about the intent of living wills and do-not-resuscitate orders.

This article from the Staten Island Advance explains more about MOLST orders in New York, as well as the role of living wills.