I recently attended an Elder Law Conference and was able to learn more about Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment, or MOLST for short, a medical document used in  New York State (and slowly being rolled out in other states). In my opinion, it is a document any person who is suffering from a serious medical condition should have with their records.  One of the great things about a MOLST is that it is meant to follow the patient from one hospital/facility to another, which is why I suspect it is printed (and must always be) on bright neon pink paper (making it much easier to distinguish from other medical documents or records).

How does a person obtain a MOLST? A MOLST can only be obtained after the patient has discussed their diagnosis, prognosis, thoughts on life-sustaining treatments with their physician and has communicated their position regarding life sustaining treatment to their physician. The most “suitable” candidate for a MOLST is an individual who currently resides in a long-term care facility or requires long-term care and could possibly die within the next year. A MOLST does NOT replace Advance Directives, like a Health Care Proxy and/or Living Will. Every person should have the latter documents, whether they are old, young, healthy or sick.

Unlike Advance Directives, a MOLST contains actionable medical orders, is set in the present (i.e. medical personnel can act on the orders right now),  and the patient can still have capacity to make decisions even when a MOLST is in effect. The only way to modify a MOLST is if a physician examines the patient, reviews the medical orders and changes them (based on the patient’s current medical condition).

A MOLST addresses the some of the same issues as contained within Advance Directives, like artificial nutrition and hydration, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), artificial/mechanical respiration, the use of antibiotics in the course of treatment as well as future hospitalizations or transfers to other facilities.

The most comprehensive website by far, exclusively devoted to end of life/palliative care issues  (and that goes into much greater detail than this post) is http://www.compassionandsupport.org – I strongly recommend that you search this website.  It not only contains the most current version of the MOLST, which you can print for personal use- on bright neon pink paper, of course, but useful information on the history of MOLST (which began in Rochester, NY) and information for families/patients and professionals.  It really is a wonderful website. An added bonus, you can also read the website en español aqui.

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