DNR Form Mississippi: Orders, POST Forms, and What Each Covers

Mississippi families navigating serious illness often hear "DNR" and "POST" used interchangeably by medical staff — but these are fundamentally different documents with different legal weight, different scope, and different signing authority. Confusing the two can leave critical gaps in your care plan.

Here is exactly what each form does, who can sign it, and how they interact with your advance directive.

DNR Order: Narrow and Specific

A Do Not Resuscitate order in Mississippi is a single-purpose clinical directive. It instructs first responders and hospital personnel not to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if your breathing or heartbeat stops. That is the full extent of what a DNR covers.

A DNR does not address:

• Whether you want mechanical ventilation while your heart is still beating
• Antibiotic use for infections
• Artificial nutrition through feeding tubes
• Hospital transfer decisions
• Pain management protocols

This narrow scope means a DNR alone leaves most end-of-life medical decisions unaddressed. If you only have a DNR and you develop pneumonia while in hospice, your medical team has no written guidance on whether to treat aggressively or provide comfort measures only.

POST Form: Comprehensive Medical Orders

Mississippi's Physician Orders for Sustaining Treatment (POST) form — aligned with the national POLST paradigm — is a multi-section medical order designed for individuals facing advanced illness. Unlike a DNR, it provides active clinical guidance across several treatment categories while the patient is still alive.

The standardized Mississippi POST form includes:

Section A — Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Directs either "Attempt Resuscitation (CPR)" or "Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNR)" when you have no pulse and are not breathing.

Section B — Medical Interventions: Directs care when you are still breathing or have a pulse. Options range from full sustaining treatment (including intubation, mechanical ventilation, ICU admission) to limited interventions (basic treatments, no intubation) to comfort measures only (maximizing pain relief, avoiding hospital transfer).

Section C — Antibiotics: Full use to sustain life, limited trial periods, or comfort-only use for pain relief.

Section D — Medically Administered Fluids and Nutrition: Addresses feeding tubes, TPN (intravenous nutrition), and IV hydration — with options for long-term use, trial periods, or no artificial nutrition.

Who Can Sign: A Critical Distinction

Under current Mississippi law, both DNR and POST orders must be signed by a licensed physician (MD or DO) to be legally valid. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) cannot sign these orders.

A legislative effort in 2026 (House Bill 1461) sought to grant APRNs signing authority for POST orders and death certificates. It died in committee on February 3, 2026. The restriction to physician-only signing remains in effect.

This matters practically: if your primary care provider is a nurse practitioner, you will need their supervising physician or another MD/DO to sign your POST form. Plan for this step — do not assume your APRN can complete it during a routine appointment.

POST vs Living Will: Different Legal Mechanisms

A living will (part of your advance directive) is a legal planning document you create yourself. It expresses your wishes but requires interpretation by medical staff.

A POST form is a physician's medical order. It translates your wishes into immediate, actionable clinical instructions that EMS personnel, nurses, and hospital staff follow without interpretation. A POST is portable across all healthcare settings — emergency services, hospitals, hospice, nursing facilities.

The two documents complement rather than replace each other:

• Your living will provides the legal foundation and detailed preferences
• Your POST form converts those preferences into standing medical orders

If your POST and advance directive ever conflict, the most recent document generally takes precedence. This is why the POST form requires annual review and must be revisited upon any change in health status, facility admission, or discharge.

Annual Review Requirement

A Mississippi POST form is not permanent. It must be reviewed at least annually to maintain clinical and legal validity. Additional review is required when you are admitted to or discharged from a facility, experience a significant health change, or change your treatment preferences.

If a POST is revised or determined invalid, the physician must draw a line through Sections A through E and write "VOID" across the face of the form. If you wish to revoke your POST entirely, you can communicate this intent to your attending medical staff at any time.

Putting It All Together

For comprehensive coverage, Mississippi residents facing serious illness typically need three coordinated documents:

1. An advance directive (healthcare agent + living will instructions)
2. A POST form signed by your physician
3. Distributed copies accessible during emergencies

The Mississippi Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes a DNR vs POST comparison chart and guides you through coordinating your advance directive with clinical orders so nothing falls through the gaps.

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