Sheila Dobbins: Tell your loved ones your end-of-life wishes
April 16, is National Healthcare Decisions Day, a day to inspire, educate and empower individuals about the importance of advance-care planning. The theme for the nationwide event is “It Always Seems Too Early, Until It’s Too Late.”
One avenue for dictating your end-of-life healthcare options is a POLST form – Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. The typically bright pink form is a medical order signed by both the patient and their physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant. It specifies the medical treatment you wish to receive. POLST forms are available from your physician or on the website http://coalitionccc.org.
A POSLT form is different from the recently enacted AB15 – The End of Life Option Act, which becomes effective June 9. The End of Life Option Act allows an adult, who is able to understand and make their own medical decision and who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease, to request a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug. Before it’s too late, have a conversation with loved ones about your end-of-life healthcare decisions and document them on a POLST form.
Sheila Dobbins, Chairperson, San Joaquin-Stanislaus POLST Coalition
This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Sheila Dobbins: Tell your loved ones your end-of-life wishes."