For your Covid denier friends: a POLST form

[Bobstandard]

If you know a Covid denier, send them this via the most appropriate social media, or even print it out and hand it to them:

Hi Covid denier!

If you're serious about not worrying about catching Covid, then you should fill out a POLST form. A POLST form is like a will that tells medical providers what level of care you want applied to you should you get sick with Covid 19 or the flu, or whatever.

Here are the level-of-care options on the form. I'm sure you'll want to stand firm in your beliefs by checking item number 2 or even number 3:

1: Full Treatments(required if choose CPRin Section A). Goal: Attempt to sustain life by all medically effective means.Provide appropriate medical and surgical treatments as indicated to attempt to prolong life, includingintensive care.

2: Selective Treatments. Goal: Attempt to restore function while avoiding intensive care and resuscitation efforts (ventilator, defibrillation and cardioversion). May use non-invasive positive airway pressure, antibiotics and IV fluids as indicated. Avoid intensive care. Transfer to hospital if treatment needs cannot be met in current location.

3: Comfort-focused Treatments. Goal: Maximize comfort through symptom management; allow natural death. Use oxygen, suction and manual treatment of airway obstruction as needed for comfort. Avoid treatments listed in full or select treatments unless consistent with comfort goal. Transfer to hospital only if comfort cannot be achieved in current setting.

If you don't believe in Covid 19, if you don't believe in wearing masks, or if you think we should open everything up right away, then pick option 3 so that if you get sick, we can quickly free up your hospital bed for people who don't share your views.

POLST stands for Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. There is a form like the one shown available in California from the Emergency Medical Services Authority. There is a very similar national model form that other states have or are in the process of adopting. I'm guessing most states have something like it. There are lots of on-line resources, including at polst.org

[NJCher]

1. all the half-maskers at the grocery store are going to get one of these

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[Shermann]

2. Trump chose Option 0: Super-Special Treatments (reserved for Commanders in Chief) nt

[Dem2theMax]

3. On a very serious note, I never knew these forms existed.

Thank you for posting this. I'm in California, and I have an advanced healthcare directive, but now I'm also going to include this.