wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

Very interesting. I responded initially because (1) my mother recently died (at age 98) when she could no longer eat and we stopped all but hydration under her long-standing health care instructions, and (2) earlier this week during my annual checkup, my physician strongly promoted my filling out a standardized Health Care Directive that all of the health care facilities in the St. Louis area apparently will now accept. The package provided includes both a Durable Power of Attorney for health care decisions, and a Health Care Directive section where I can indicate whether (or not) various treatments should be withheld or withdrawn if my medical prognosis is bleak (I'm paraphrasing.)

The package is 11 pages, of which 6 are instructions, and makes NO mention of any central reposistory for these Directives. Rather, the instructions specifically say to keep copies where people can find them, and only suggest giving copies to the agents (attorneys in fact), family members, doctors and hospitals I think might be involved at some point under the Directive. Also, the instructions specifically say that ambulance and ER folks WILL perform CPR "unless they are given a separate directive that states otherwise," which is described as something used by people who are already in poor health and who have "little chance of benefitting from CPR." Again, with no suggestion that there is any sort of central repository where ambulance/ER folks might check for such separate directives.

So at least in this part of Missouri, there doesn't seem to be anything even close to the Oregon central archive for these sorts of instructions.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Yes, I have one of the forms that I started to fill out and I think it's 11 pages long. But I'm no attorney and don't know what I'm doing when filling one out. The last thing you or I want to do is check some box that gives them the idea that you don't want them to help you if you can be helped.

buckbrush Loc: Texas then Southwest Oregon

wrangler5 and jeep daddy both mentioned an 11 page form. That is confusing to me as when my doctor told me about the POLST she gave me a one page form to fill out. As I mentioned in an earlier reply it has 4 sections on the first page that I completed. The doctor signed the 5th section and she sent the form off to the registry. The front of the form is the only thing that needs to be completed.

I believe you may have been given an Advance Directive form which also exists in Oregon but it asks for all sorts of data that the POLST form does not require.

If you care to see the blank POLST form used here just follow the link in my previous post.


The registry for POLST forms is administered by the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

Buckbrush is right - what I was given was an Advance Directive, NOT a POLST.

I did a quick search for POLST and Missouri, and stopped when I came across this description on a web site dedicated to managing health care services:

A POLST form is generally only appropriate for people who are in the final year of life, or suffering from an advanced stage terminal illness or an illness from which they are not expected to recover. It is complementary to an advance directive.

I'm still kicking pretty good, especially for my age, so I think I'll just fill out the Advance Directive stuff for now.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Yes, the Advance Directive is the one Im talking about too. It was/is a little too complicated for me. I might bring it with me to my next doctor appointment and get some help with it.

buckbrush Loc: Texas then Southwest Oregon

IMHO you should look at both forms as one form (the POLST) is simple to complete as its only one page. I only completed it because my Dr. recommended it to have in place in case of an accident or stroke. The person who would normally make care decisions for me (my wife) is so reluctant to put down any animal ( our cats, dogs, chickens, or any wildlife), that I don’t want her to control my end-of-life decisions.
The POLST was the form recommended to me.

Others may have spouses that are in agreement with your thoughts on how you want to be cared for when you can’t make decisions for yourself.
I think thats a wonderful thing to have if both people agree on what, end-of-life decisions, each person wants.