Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2026

An Educational Video Demonstration of How to Prone a Critically Ill Intubated Patient
Published on: November 30, 2022
Legal briefing: POLST: physician orders for life-sustaining treatment
Thaddeus Mason Pope1, Melinda Hexum
1Health Law Institute, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. tpope01@hamline.edu
Abstract:
This issue's "Legal Briefing" column covers recent legal developments involving POLST (physician orders for life-sustaining treatment.) POLST has been the subject of recent articles in JCE. It has been the subject of major policy reports and a recent New York Times editorial. And POLST has been the subject of significant legislative, regulatory, and policy attention over the past several months. These developments and a survey of the current landscape are usefully grouped into the following 14 categories: 1. Terminology. 2. Purpose, function, and success. 3. Status in the states. 4. Four legal routes of implementation. 5. Which professionals can authorize POLST? 6. Is the patient's signature required? 7. Can surrogates consent to for incapacitated patients? 8. If a POLST conflicts with an advance directive, which prevails? 9. Is offering POLST mandatory? 10. What are the duties of healthcare providers? 11. What is the role of electronic registries? 12. What is the role of the federal government? 13. International adoption. 14. Court cases.
Related Concept Videos
Standards of Care II
Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
Ethical Dilemmas II
Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's cancer...
Types of Reports III: Telephone and Verbal Reports
Here's an overview of each type:
Telephone Orders
Standards of Care I

