Students Testify on POLST Forms Before New Hampshire House of Representatives Committee

On Thursday, April 10, 2014, three members of the Rockefeller Center’s Policy Research Shop traveled to Concord to testify before the New Hampshire House of Representatives Committee on Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs. Joshua Schiefelbein ’14, Zach Markovich ’15 and Avery Feingold ’17 presented their policy brief, “POLST Registries: Supporting End of Life Decision Making,” in formal testimony before the committee. The PRS students followed the testimonies of nine other lobbyists and executive agency representatives. 

POLST (Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment) forms allow doctors and their patients who are close to the end of their lives to determine what, if any, treatment patients should receive as their lives end. Such options include DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders. The students presented their findings on the progress of seven states in implementing POLST registries statewide and provided the committee members with cost and enrollment estimates, based on empirical research conducted across the seven states. Members of the committee were pleased with the PRS presentation. Committee Chairman James Mackay remarked after the hearing, “We should have had the students go first; they provided the clearest presentation of all who testified.”