Make Sure Your End of Life Wishes are Carried Out; Documents that Express Your Wishes

Power of Attorney, Medical Power of Attorney, Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will, MOST. It seems like we get lost in a landslide of paperwork and legal documents. How do you know what documents are important? Do you need them all or just some? You want to make sure your wishes are carried out, but it gets confusing keeping up with the paperwork and all the changes. Join us as Kim Mooney from Boulder/Broomfield Hospice clears up the confusion for us. Many of you have probably never heard of the MOST document. It is a new standardized form called Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment. It will be available to patients who are terminally ill or living in nursing homes in the state of Colorado. The form specifies whether a person wants CPR, antibiotics, artificial nutrition or hydration, "comfort measures only" or "full treatment." Unlike a living will, which is considered an expression of patient wishes, the MOST form carries the power of doctors' orders and is intended to follow the patient from a home to a nursing home to a hospital.