A Spanish-language POLST form is available through your healthcare provider, your state’s POLST program website, or the National POLST Collaborative, and federal law entitles you to a qualified medical interpreter, free of charge, for the provider conversation that must happen before the form is signed. Because a POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a medical order rather than a general planning document, each state controls its own version, so the exact form you use depends on where the patient lives and receives care.1National POLST. National POLST Form Guide
Where to Find the Form in Spanish
There is no single Spanish POLST that works nationwide. Forty-three states and Washington, D.C., have codified POLST programs, and the name, color, and layout vary by jurisdiction.1National POLST. National POLST Form Guide Start with the provider who will sign it. Hospitals, hospice agencies, and skilled nursing facilities keep the state-approved version on hand, including any official translations.
If the provider does not have a Spanish version, check your state’s POLST program website directly. California has translated its POLST into Spanish, Armenian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and several other languages through the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California.2Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. POLST Illinois publishes a Spanish-language POLST through its Department of Public Health.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 755 ILCS 40/65 – Department of Public Health Uniform POLST Form The National POLST Collaborative also publishes a standardized form that some states accept alongside their own; confirm whether your state honors it and whether a Spanish translation is available.
A bilingual form with English and Spanish side by side is often the most practical option. The patient and family can read every choice in Spanish while English-speaking paramedics can still locate and follow the orders without hesitation. If your state only recognizes an English version legally, the provider should still hold the entire conversation in Spanish, using a qualified interpreter if needed, so the patient understands every option before signing.
Your Right to a Qualified Interpreter
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act requires any healthcare provider or facility that receives federal financial assistance, which covers essentially every hospital and clinic accepting Medicare or Medicaid, to take reasonable steps to give meaningful access to patients with limited English proficiency. That includes a qualified interpreter, free of charge, in a timely manner.4U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Section 1557 – Ensuring Meaningful Access for Individuals With Limited English Proficiency
Under the 2024 final rule, a qualified interpreter must be proficient in both languages, able to interpret accurately and impartially, and familiar with specialized medical vocabulary. The facility cannot pressure a family member to interpret instead, and for a POLST that pressure would be especially risky. Family members may not know clinical terms in either language, and the emotional weight of end-of-life questions can distort what gets conveyed. If a professional interpreter is not offered, ask for one. Facilities with 15 or more employees must designate a Section 1557 Coordinator whose duties include implementing language access.4U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Section 1557 – Ensuring Meaningful Access for Individuals With Limited English Proficiency
What You Will Be Asked to Decide
The National POLST form is organized into four sections. State versions may look slightly different, but the core decisions are consistent.5National POLST. The National POLST Form Knowing what each section asks helps the patient and family prepare questions in Spanish before the conversation begins.
Section A: CPR
This section applies only when the patient has no pulse and is not breathing. The choice is YES CPR (attempt resuscitation, including chest compressions, defibrillation, and mechanical ventilation) or NO CPR. Choosing YES CPR requires selecting Full Treatments in Section B, because restarting the heart only to withhold intensive care afterward has no medical logic.5National POLST. The National POLST Form
Section B: Initial Treatment
Section B covers what happens when the patient is alive but experiencing a serious medical event. Three tiers are offered. Full Treatments aims to sustain life by all effective means, including surgery, intensive care, and mechanical ventilation. Selective Treatments allows antibiotics, IV fluids, and non-invasive breathing support while generally avoiding intubation and the ICU, with hospital transfer permitted if the current setting cannot meet treatment needs. Comfort-Focused Treatments provides oxygen, suctioning, and pain medications, avoids aggressive interventions unless they serve comfort, and permits transfer only if comfort cannot be achieved where the patient is.
These labels can sound abstract in either language. Ask the provider to describe what the patient would actually experience under each choice, using concrete examples tied to the patient’s condition.5National POLST. The National POLST Form
Section C: Additional Orders
An open space for anything that does not fit the checkboxes above: specific medications the patient wants continued, religious considerations, or situations in which they would want their treatment level reconsidered. Entries here add to the choices in Sections A and B rather than replacing them.
Section D: Medically Assisted Nutrition
This section addresses feeding tubes. The National POLST form lists four options: nutrition through a new or existing feeding tube; no nutrition through a feeding tube; a time-limited trial of medically assisted nutrition; or no decision made, in which case standard of care applies. The time-limited trial is a middle ground. Leaving a section blank is permitted, but providers will default to full treatment for any unmarked section.6Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. POLST Frequently Asked Questions for Consumers
Signing and Making It Valid
A POLST is not a document you fill out at the kitchen table. It becomes a valid medical order only after a conversation with a healthcare provider and signatures from both sides. The provider, a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, explains each section, discusses what the options mean given the patient’s condition, and checks the boxes that match the patient’s stated preferences.5National POLST. The National POLST Form Not all states authorize nurse practitioners to sign; most do, but confirm with your state’s program.
The patient signs to confirm that the recorded choices reflect their wishes. If the patient lacks the mental capacity to participate, a legally recognized healthcare decision-maker, such as someone holding healthcare power of attorney or a court-appointed guardian, signs in their place. Every name, date, and credential should be legible. An unreadable signature or missing date can create confusion during an emergency when paramedics are trying to verify the form on the spot.
Once both signatures are in place, the POLST is active immediately. No notarization or court filing is needed, and the form becomes part of the patient’s medical record.
Where to Keep the Form
A signed POLST is useless if paramedics cannot find it. Keep the original in a highly visible spot at home: the refrigerator door, a bedside table, or a brightly colored envelope near the front entrance. Most states print POLST forms on distinctive paper (pink is the most common, though some states use green or goldenrod) so first responders can spot it quickly in a chaotic scene.1National POLST. National POLST Form Guide
When a patient moves between home, hospital, or a long-term care facility, the form travels with them. Give copies to the primary care provider for the electronic health record, and confirm any admitting facility has the form on file. Oregon, New York, and West Virginia are among the states that maintain electronic POLST registries, allowing emergency responders to pull up the orders digitally if the paper form is misplaced.
Changing or Canceling the Form
Because a POLST is a medical order, a patient cannot cross out a box and initial the change. To update the form, tell your provider what you want changed. The provider completes and signs a new form reflecting the updated preferences, and the old form is voided.7National POLST. Manage Your POLST Form
To void a POLST without replacing it, draw a line across the entire form and write “VOID” in large letters, or destroy it. Then notify your provider so they can void it in the medical record and, if your state has a POLST registry, remove it from the database.7National POLST. Manage Your POLST Form
Review the form at least once a year, and revisit it any time the patient’s condition changes significantly or they move to a new care setting. A POLST written during a hospitalization for pneumonia may not reflect what the patient wants two years later.
Moving Across State Lines
POLST was designed to follow patients between care settings, but recognition across state lines is uneven. Only a minority of states have statutes explicitly requiring providers to honor an out-of-state POLST. For the rest, recognition depends on whether the receiving state’s providers treat it as a valid medical order under generally accepted medical practice.8National POLST. POLST Legislative Guide
States that do recognize out-of-state forms take different approaches. Some require the form to comply with the receiving state’s law. Others accept forms that substantially comply with their requirements. A few honor the form as long as it was valid in the state where it was signed. If a patient with a Spanish-language POLST from one state moves to or is transported to another, the safest step is completing a new form in the destination state. Bring the existing POLST to the conversation as a clear starting point.8National POLST. POLST Legislative Guide
Who a POLST Is For
A POLST is not designed for healthy adults planning far into the future. It is meant for people living with a serious illness, chronic condition, or advanced frailty whose current health makes it realistic that they could face a medical emergency requiring life-sustaining treatment decisions. Patients in hospice, in nursing facilities, or managing advanced cancer, heart failure, or dementia are the typical candidates.
A general advance directive is different: any competent adult can complete one, and it names a healthcare agent and states general preferences for the future. A POLST is a medical order based on present condition, signed by both the patient and a provider after a face-to-face conversation.9National POLST. POLST for Professionals If a Spanish-speaking patient is healthy and simply wants planning documents, an advance directive in Spanish is the right starting place, not a POLST.