Bill
HB 1724
Washington bill standardizing portable end-of-life medical directives to ensure patient treatment preferences are consistently recognized and followed across all healthcare settings.
HB 1724 modernizes Washington's approach to Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST), which are medical directives that follow patients across care settings. The bill aims to improve accessibility, standardization, and implementation of these end-of-life planning documents to ensure patient wishes are honored consistently in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities.
POLST forms serve critically ill or elderly patients by documenting their preferences for resuscitation, medical intervention, and palliative care. Without standardized, portable systems, patients' end-of-life wishes may be ignored or inconsistently applied, leading to unwanted aggressive treatment or delays in comfort care. This bill addresses implementation gaps that have left many patients' documented preferences unrecognized across different healthcare providers.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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