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Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care forms. (PDF - 80k)

St. Luke's and its physicians and staff believe in the basic principle of patient self-determination and the rights of competent adults to make their own medical treatment decisions and execute Advance Directives.

Advance Directives are documents that allow individuals to make their wishes known in advance regarding end-of-life care and whom they want to make health care decisions for them, if they should ever become unable to speak for themselves. Advance Directives include the following properly-executed documents:

• Living Will
• Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
• Written statements expressing a patient's wishes regarding treatment and/or end-of-life care
• Patient statements regarding treatment and/or end-of-life care documented in the medical record
• Physician Order for Scope of Treatment (POST)

In keeping with the values and mission of St. Luke's, and to the extent permitted or required by law, St. Luke's physicians and staff will honor and comply with the terms of a patient's Advance Directives in the inpatient and outpatient hospital setting, as long as the necessary physician orders are in place.

Note: Even if a patient has properly-executed Advance Directives, a current physician “Do Not Resuscitate” order (DNR) or Physician Order for Scope of Treatment (POST) is required in order to withhold resuscitative efforts. These orders are written in the chart after the physician understands the patient's wishes.

If a patient's Advance Directives create medical, ethical, or professional dilemmas among physicians, family members, nurses, and/or other care providers, St. Luke's Medical Ethics Committee, or a comparable medical staff committee, is available for consultation.

St. Luke's will ask all patients who are 18 years of age or older and who are being admitted as inpatients to the hospital, Hospice, or Home Care, whether or not they have Advance Directives and, if so, whether or not they wish to have a copy placed on their medical record.

Patients are not required to have Advance Directives, and St. Luke's does not condition the provision of care or otherwise discriminate on the basis of whether or not Advance Directives have been completed. Patients are encouraged to discuss their wishes with their family members and their physician, and to complete Advance Directives prior to their admission.

Advance Directives – Important Definitions

Idaho Living Will: This document lets individuals state their wishes about medical care in the event they are terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state, and can no longer make their own decisions. The Idaho Living Will becomes effective immediately, and is implemented when two doctors acknowledge that a person is terminally ill and that death will occur with or without the use of life-sustaining procedures, or that they are in a persistent vegetative state.

Idaho Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care: This document lets individuals name someone to make decisions about their medical care – including decisions about life support – if they can no longer speak for themselves. This document is especially useful, as it appoints someone to speak for them any time that they are unable to make their own medical decisions, not only at the end of life.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR): A medical procedure, often involving external chest compression, administration of drugs, and electric shock, used to restore the heartbeat at the time of a cardiac arrest.

Note: At St. Luke's, as in many other hospitals, a current physician “Do Not Resuscitate” order (DNR) or Physician Order for Scope of Treatment (POST) is required in the chart in order to withhold resuscitative efforts. These orders are written after the physician understands the patient's wishes.

Artificial Life-Sustaining Procedure: Any medical procedure or intervention that utilizes mechanical means to sustain or supplant a vital function which, when applied to a qualified patient, would serve only to artificially prolong life. It does not include the administration of medication or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to alleviate pain.

Artificial Nutrition and Hydration: Supplying food and water through a conduit, such as a tube or intravenous (IV) line, where the recipient is not required to chew or swallow voluntarily, but does not include assisted feeding, such as spoon feeding or bottle feeding.

Completing Advance Directives
Any competent person may complete a Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. A “competent person” is any person 18 years of age or older or any emancipated minor, as long as he or she is of sound mind. A person may cancel or revoke this document simply by issuing a new Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, or by writing or stating the wish that such document be cancelled or revoked.

The Idaho Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is very easy to complete and does not require the services of an attorney, unless a person wishes to seek legal advice.

Individuals may complete the entire Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care document, or they may just complete one part and leave the other part blank.

The Idaho Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care does not have to be witnessed or notarized. It just needs to be signed by the person completing it.

Copies of the completed Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care should be given to family members, physicians, hospitals, and others who may be involved in a person's medical decision-making. Individuals should keep the original or a copy in a secure but accessible place.

You may also register your Advance Directives with the State of Idaho by following the instructions provided here.

Physician Order for Scope of Treatment (POST)
In addition to a Living Willing and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, patients who have an incurable or irreversible injury, disease, illness, or condition may wish to request that their physician complete and sign a Physician Order for Scope of Treatment (POST) form.

The POST is a standardized form that allows a person to express his or her treatment wishes in advance of needing medical treatment. The POST is signed by your physician, and the orders on the POST will be followed by emergency medical personnel, medical care providers, and health institutions in the state of Idaho. Your physician may obtain a copy of the POST from the Idaho Secretary of State’s website.

For more information about the POST, please visit the Idaho Health and Welfare website.

You may also have your POST placed in the State Health Care Directives Registry by following the instruction provided here.