FORMS & EXPLANATIONS FROM MEDICAL SOCIETIES & ASSOCIATIONS:

• Allegheny County Medical Society:

  • "Important Announcement Regarding Living Wills -- Act 169 Changes the Law"
  • Note: This PA HealthCare DecisionMaking website is cited, with a link, as a resource.
  • Living Will & Health Care Power of Attorney
  • Summary: A combined form developed in 1994 by the Allegheny County Medical Society and the Allegheny County Bar Association. This legal form was accompanied by a clear explanation of the issues & step-by-step instructions.

• American Academy of Physician Assistants:

  • End-of-Life Decision Making -- Policy adopted by AAPA House of Delegates, 1997).

• American Hospital Association:

• "Put It In Writing" -- A public awareness campaign (2005).
  
• Synopsis: In cooperation with other organizations, AHA compiled key resources & promoted them in materials to enhance educational efforts & to raise awareness about health care decision making and end-of-life issues.
• Resources: Additional Web Links are offered on the Campaign's website; and Campaign materials are available online, including: Full text brochure; Glossary of Terms; Questions & Answers; & Wallet Card.
  

• American Medical Society:

• The Medical Directive -- A form that records the medical treatments a patient wishes to have or not have, when unable to express wishes personally. The form enables a patient to
• Record your wishes regarding various types of medical treatments, such as resuscitation and artificial feedings;
• Appoint a proxy, someone to make medical decisions on your behalf should you become unable to make them on your own; &
  
• Record your wishes regarding donating your organs for transplantation.

• Geisinger Medical Center:

• Advance Directives - Making Decisions About Your Care and Treatment: Your rights as a patient in Pennsylvania
  (PDF) -- A Workbook & forms.
• "Advance Directives: Resources" -- A list of references & forms.
• Note: This PA HealthCare DecisionMaking website is cited, with a link, as a resource.
• Synopsis: "Preparing and executing an Advance Directive (AD) is important if you wish to protect your autonomy should you become unable to make health-care decisions for yourself. Each and every AD is an individualized statement , and should be prepared with reason and deliberation. Because an AD is an instrument of informed consent, it is necessary for you to familiarize yourself with all the necessary information available."
• "Enough -- The Failure of the Living Will", (PDF) in Hastings Center Report 34, No. 2 (2004):30-42.

• Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania:

• Decide for Yourself: A Guide to Mental Health Advance Directives -- Informs patients about their rights under Act 194 of 2004 regarding Mental Health Declarations & Powers of Attorney.

• Journal of the American Medical Association:

  • Advance care planning: Guidance for patients

• Advance directives for end-of-life medical decisions (PDF).
• Decisions about end of life care (PDF).

• Pennsylvania Medical Society:

  • Advance Directive Resource List-- A compendium of the resources available from the Society, (including those listed below).
    
  • Announcement of "Guide to Act 169 of 2006" -- Introduction to this resource for physicians & other health care providers.
  • "Guide to Act 169" Publication -- PDF format, 19 pages.
  • Note in Guide (p. 12): "The Pennsylvania Medical Society is in the process of updating our patient advance directive brochure. It will include an explanatory guide and an example health care directive. Patients will be able to download a PDF copy of the Society's patient advance health care directive brochure at the Society's patient information Web site www.myfamilywellness.org"
    

• P.O.L.S.T. ORG:

• Sponsor: Center for Ethics in Health Care at OHSU
• Purpose: "Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) is a two-sided form designed to help health care professionals honor the end-of-life treatment desires of their patients. The form has physician orders that follow patient wishes and treatment intentions, and enhances the appropriateness and quality of patient care."
• Frequently Asked Questions

• Educational Material & Resources
• Research & References

• P.O.L.S.T. Commentaries:

• Appleby, Julie, "Debate surrounds end-of-life expenses--Should treatment be provided, regardless of cost or quality of life?" and "Few states allow forms spelling out patients' wishes", in USA Today (10/19/06, at pages 1B & 2B).
• Rotstein, Gary, "Forms give patients stronger say on choices at end of life", in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (02/21/07).
  

• University of Pennsylvania Health System -- Encyclopedia entries on:

• "Advance Care Directives" (11/15/05).
• "Medical Powers of Attorney" (10/26/04).