Medical Orders
Introduction
Sometimes, particularly with serious and life threatening medical conditions, documentation that expresses the support and opinion of your primary healthcare provider can be helpful to getting you the care you wish at the end of life. Clinicians or medical “orders,” as they’re called, can add additional weight and legitimacy to your advance directive. They are evidence to anyone and everyone (EMS providers, emergency department personnel, good samaritans, your healthcare surrogate, etc.) that you have discussed your situation with your healthcare provider and that the medical order is a directive that you both endorse and support.
NM MOST & DNR
The NM MOST and DNR orders are two such documents that you can post in your residence (i.e. home, long term care facility, assisted living apartment) and carry with you in your purse, briefcase, car, etc. Once admitted to the hospital, these orders may become part of the medical record and may inform the additional hospital orders that will likely be initiated. They are one more step to ensure that your future healthcare decisions reflect your wishes, even if you lose capacity to speak for yourselves.
