How Medical Records Can Make Dying Wishes Come True

A study has been done out of Oregon that examined whether patients indicating their preferences on a Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment form had an impact on whether their wishes were honored. The study focused on a specific form used in Oregon, in which seriously ill patients could choose one of three options on whether to be taken to a hospital or not. The study concluded that when a patient included their wishes on where they die in medical records, it was more likely that their wishes were carried out. It also showed that the vast majority of patients wished to be left where they were and not spend their last moments in a hospital.

See Reuters, Putting Dying Wishes in Medical Record Helps Them Happen, Study Shows, Daily News, June 9, 2014.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.