Estates & Powers of attorney

POLST stands for "Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment." The POLST is an updated version of a Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR).  It is a medical order, signed by a patient and their doctor or other health care provider. It says which treatments someone wants or doesn't want in the event of a life threatening emergency, illness or condition. 

A POLST helps a person tell their healthcare providers what care they want. A POLST plays an important part in one’s overall end-of-life care plan. 

No. A POLST is a medical order, signed by the patient and their health care provider.  It is not intended to be a substitute for an Illinois Living Will Declaration.  A living will is a statement declaring a person does not want “death delaying procedures” if they are terminally ill.  

A POLST is not a substitute or replacement for a power of attorney for health care. A power of attorney says who will make healthcare decisions if a person is unable to make them for themselves. A POLST can give instructions for the person with power of attorney.

Learn about living wills and power of attorney for healthcare.

A POLST is intended for people at the “end of life.” This includes patients with degenerative illnesses. It also includes patients who are living with dementia and may lose the ability to make their own decisions.

"End of life" is around the last year or so of life. A POLST is a medical order, but is voluntary. A person cannot be forced to make a POLST. A person also cannot be denied health care for not making a POLST. A facility cannot require someone to make a POLST before admitting them.

Yes, POLST can be revoked at any time. The patient must draw lines through sections A through E, writing "VOID" across the page. They must sign and date beneath the "VOID".

To change a POLST, a new POLST form must be completed.

A POLST creates instructions for medical providers. It also keeps any decision-makers, such as the patient’s power of attorney, informed. POLST allows patients to determine, prior to the time when the decisions need to be made:

• Whether CPR would be attempted,
• What medical interventions may be authorized, such as full treatment, selective treatment, comfort-focused treatment, and
• What medically administered nutrition would be authorized, such as long-term medically administered nutrition, including gastro tubes, trial When the issues of a case are heard in court and decided by a judge or jury period for medically administered nutrition or no medically administered nutrition.

A patient can choose to receive only comfort care, such as pain medication and oxygen.

They can start by talking to their health care provider. While Powers of Attorney and Living Will Declarations can be made any time, even years before they are needed, a POLST is more limited. 

A POLST is a medical order. It must be signed by: 

• The patient or their legal representative, such as an agent under a power of attorney for health care, and
• by a qualified health care practitioner. 

The practitioner can be a physician, a licensed medical resident, a physician assistant, or an advanced practice nurse. 

A POLST is kept with the patient so that emergency personnel can follow their wishes during a medical emergency outside of the hospital.

Copies should also be given to all of a person’s health care providers. People should also consider having a close, trusted person keep a photo of their POLST on their phone in case they need to show it to someone.