Difficult decisions, such as end of life care, can include critical preparations that often get deferred until it’s too late. As planning professionals we understand the importance of having these uncomfortable conversations. This month we’ll delve into Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST). Join us to learn the details of how it differs from advance directives, why it’s vital for certain clients to complete and how to thoughtfully approach these sensitive subjects. The presenter will provide this framework and share how advance care planning can relieve loved ones from making extremely difficult decisions in a time of stress.
Having a POLST in place can assure patient’s preferences are honored and ease the inevitable difficulties faced by patients and their families.
Dr. Susan Tolle, a Professor of Medicine at OHSU, holds the Cornelia Hayes Stevens Endowed Chair in Health Care Ethics. She founded and has directed the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care since 1989 and has shepherded its growth into an internationally recognized ethics center with programs such as the POLST program and more recently the Oregon POLST registry. Dr. Tolle is a practicing internist in the Division of General Medicine and Geriatrics. In 2014 she received the MacLean Center Prize in Clinical Medical Ethics, which is the largest award in the clinical medical ethics field.