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PHYSICIAN ORDERS FOR SCOPE OF TREATMENT – aka POST
Posted on: June 29, 2007
By: Peter C. Sisson, Certified Elder Law Attorney*
Do not resuscitate orders (DNRs) and Comfort Ones (the DNR effective in the home setting) have been a source of confusion and anxiety for seniors with chronic illnesses for a long time. Care providers in all kinds of settings have also experienced difficulties and uncertainties with regard to determining how to advise patients and families and in determining the enforceability of these doctor’s orders. One of the biggest concerns and sources of confusion has been the lack of portability for these orders. A DNR signed by a physician in a hospital was not effective under Idaho law when the patient was discharged home. A Comfort One had to be issued for the home setting.
On July 1, 2007, a new law passed by the 2007 legislature and signed into law by Governor Otter becomes effective. This law provides for physicians, in consultation with their patients, to put in place a POST or Physician Order for Scope of Treatment. This document is designed to take the place of both DNRs and Comfort Ones. For those of you who already have a DNR or Comfort One in place, do not worry. DNRs and Comfort Ones that are in place prior to July 1, 2007 remain effective as long as they were put in place properly.
POST will solve a whole host of problems. Care providers, patients and their families can be assured that POST will follow them wherever they may move along what we at Sisson & Sisson call the elder care continuum. (For more on the elder care continuum, please visit our website at www.IdahoElderLaw.com). This means that the POST is effective and will be honored in the home, with emergency medical service personnel, in the hospital setting or in a residential care setting (nursing home, assisted living or independent living facility). Unlike our prior law on DNRs, you do not need to be certified as having a “terminal condition” in order for your doctor to issue a POST. POST will help effectuate the fundamental right of every Idaho citizen to control decisions relating to their own health care. Anyone who has an advanced chronic or progressive illness, anyone in a terminal condition, or anyone wishing to define their preferences for medical care should discuss putting a POST in place with their physician. As with other advance directives (the living will and durable power of attorney for health care), putting a POST in place will give the senior and his or her family a great deal of peace of mind.
The Elder Law Firm
2402 West Jefferson Street
Boise, Idaho 83702
Tel: (208) 387-0729
Fax: (208) 331-5009
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