Unlike an advance directive, which can be misplaced or vaguely worded, a Polst spells out specific treatment instructions and remains part of a patient's medical record.

WSJ: New Efforts to Simplify End-of-Life-Care Wishes

They get what is essentially a vaguely worded promise to not do that again, or at least, not that same thing, for at least two years.

FORBES: What's Not to "Like"? Plaintiffs' Lawyers Cash in on Facebook Lawsuit

"The big glaring hole is that it is such a vaguely worded document that it doesn't seem to force countries into doing anything, " Ben Ayliffe from Greenpeace told BBC News.

BBC: Concerns raised over 'useless' Arctic oil spill plan

Over the last couple decades, federal prosecutors have increasingly used broad, vaguely worded statutes to target individuals and institutions they want to take down, ranging from Michael Milken to Arthur Andersen.

FORBES: Booked: Harvey Silverglate on Three Felonies A Day

Relying on the Martin Act, a vaguely worded state law that enables the attorney general to file civil or criminal charges in a broad range of securities cases, he targeted various investment banks in 2001, accusing their research divisions of producing overly optimistic reports on investment banking clients.

FORBES: On The Cover/Top Stories

The implication of the power of the deferred prosecution agreement should be clear: if the government decides that a company may be guilty under some vaguely worded statute or other, it can force a company to investigate itself and then dispense with the inconvenience that we call an actual trial.

FORBES: Justice 'Deferred'

But to what extent, one must ask, do vaguely-worded laws against securities fraud in the U.S. provide a similar lack of notice?

FORBES: The Insider Trading Bread and Circus

The inflation target replaces the BoJ's current, vaguely-worded "goal" for price stability over the medium to long-term, which was taken to mean a positive range of 2 per cent or lower in year-on-year change in the consumer price index.

CNN: Bank of Japan bows to inflation pressure