"Don't resuscitate this patient; he has a living will," the nurse told the doctor, Monica Williams-Murphy, handing her a document. Williams-Murphy looked at the sheet bearing the signature of the ...

The American Hospital Association estimates that half of Americans suffer from chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Following a diagnosis, many experience concerns about the ...

A 92-year-old woman resides in an assisted-living facility in Oregon and has extensive inoperable coronary artery disease, becoming breathless moving from her bed to the chair. Capable of decisions, ...

The coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep across New Jersey and the country, and hospitals continue to admit positive patients suffering from severe symptoms of the fast-spreading respiratory virus.

Susan Hickman, PhD, director of the Indiana University Center for Aging Research at Regenstrief Institute, and her colleagues nationwide are stressing the importance of including orders about ...

While most Americans know what a DNR (short for “Do not resuscitate”) is and an increasing percentage of the frail elderly or terminally ill have one on file, a much smaller percentage know what a ...

Susan E. Hickman, Ph.D. Nursing home residents who have Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment significantly increase the likelihood that their treatment preferences are known, a statewide ...

The distraught husband repeated over and over: “That’s not what she wanted.” Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were kneeling next to his wife, administering life-saving procedures. Her husband ...

Most California nursing home residents had completed physician orders for life-sustaining treatment, or POLST, within six years after POLST reporting was mandated in the Minimum Data Set, according to ...

Every year or so there is a story in the news about a hospital being sued for failing to intervene or, alternately, for wrongfully intervening to resuscitate a patient using advanced life support. As ...