The main difference is the range of medical treatments the documents cover.

An Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Order (or OOH-DNR, for short) is limited to out-of-hospital settings (for example, long-term care facilities or care given in transport vehicles) to refuse the following life-sustaining treatments should you suffer from respiratory or cardiac arrest:

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),
• Advanced airway management,
• Artificial ventilation,
• Defibrillation,
• Transcutaneous cardiac pacing, and
• Other life-sustaining treatments.

The Medical Power of Attorney, however, is not limited to the above treatments. If your agent’s decision conflicts with your OOH-DNR, the OOH-DNR controls; if no OOH-DNR exists, your agent may make any decisions about an OOH-DNR and may even execute an OOH-DNR on your behalf.