Resuscitated Despite POLST

A hearing before a Washington State Senate Committee yesterday revealed that, without immunity, healthcare providers are reluctant to comply with POLST and resuscitate residents contrary to their wishes.    



Washington probably should provide immunity for good faith compliance with POLST.  But even if the absence of such immunity, it is probably legally safer to comply with the POLST than to ignore the POLST.   In this in-progress article, I am trying to show that administering unwanted life-sustaining treatment is not a legally safe approach.