
In April, Indiana also enacted a POLST statute. Before that, 18 states already had POLST statutes. So, if my math is right, 20 states now have POLST statutes. Other states have implemented POLST through regulations or through clinical consensus.
Shapiro found many reasons why families were so rarely denied the option of withdrawing life support. Often, she said, “patients meet the requisite conditions of the law, or their medical condition is devastating—even if not precisely what is delineated in the law.” Additionally, Shapiro noted, “many physicians don’t know the law or don’t know the difference between a power of attorney and a default surrogate.” Finally, Shapiro found, “physicians don’t insist on seeing the advance directive document and follow whatever the family says is in the document,” nor will they stand in the way of the “wrenching decisions made by grieving families.”