Wolk bill to honor patients' instructions for end-of-life care moves forward

SACRAMENTO–The State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee voted 10-0 today to support legislation by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis) to require healthcare providers throughout the state to honor a new mechanism by which patients’ can provide specific instructions for their end-of-life care.  Wolk’s Assembly Bill 3000 would require healthcare providers to honor Physician’s Order for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) orders, which, unlike advance health care directives and do not resuscitate orders, carry the weight of a doctor’s order and must be honored across care settings. 

“By enabling patients to use a single form recognized across all treatment settings, AB 3000 provides patients with a user-friendly mechanism to ensure that their wishes are honored towards the end of life,” said Wolk.  “This bill also improves existing law by recognizing patients’ right to choose life sustaining treatment, not just their right to forego such treatment.”

Under existing law, health care providers are only required to execute the verbal orders of a surrogate decision maker, or advance health care directives. Under AB 3000, patients in failing health or with a terminal illness could fill out a form specifying end-of-life treatment decisions with their health care provider. The form, once signed by a doctor, would have to be honored in all care settings including ambulances and the emergency room.

“This legislation provides patients the option of expressing their wishes regarding a range of life sustaining treatments using the simplified POLST method,” Judy Citko, the Executive Director of the California Coalition for Compassionate Care, which is sponsoring AB 3000.  “Advance directives often cannot be located when needed. Or the directive’s wording is too vague to provide sufficient guidance for specific clinical situations that arise.”

AB 3000 will next be heard by the full State Assembly. The bill is co-sponsored by California American College of Emergency Physicians, Alliance of Catholic Health Care, and broadly supported by health care providers, consumers, and regulatory groups including the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, California Association of Health Facilities, California Assisted Living Association, California Hospital Association, and California Medical Association.