4. It shall be the public policy of this State to encourage public awareness and understanding of the Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment form as a means of enabling patients in this State to indicate their preferences for health care through the use of a completed POLST form as a complementary measure to the use of an advance directive, or in lieu of an advance directive if the patient has not executed such a document, in accordance with the provisions of this act.

L.2011, c.145, s.4; amended 2019, c.218, s.5.