Last Things First
The practical guide to
Living Wills
and
Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Car
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Tense: past, present and future in the United States
The numbers game of life
The dying trajectory
Competition for health care, professional services and housing
Planning for the end of life
Divergent generations with common concerns
Who should read this book about advance directives?
The right time to make an end-of-life plan
Cost of preparing advance directives
How this book is organized
Last things first, just in case.
Chapter Two
Providing for your care and feeding when you're incapacitated
Advance directives
Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
Living Will
Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
Definitions of irrelevant and often misused terms
The principal and the proxy
The power to delegate health care decision-making
Incapacity and incompetency
The beginning and end of the proxy's duties
Limitations on the proxy's authority
Revoking a power of attorney
Guardianships
Coordination of a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and a guardianship
Minimum standards for a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
Advance directive law after HIPAA
One document combining both advance directives
Chapter Three
Protecting those who cannot protect themselves
Documentation for the care of others
Power of Attorney for incapacitated adults
Power of Attorney for children
Protection for "friendless persons"
A word about non-human family members
Chapter Four
End-of-life choices and making sure your wishes are respected
The Living Will
The need for a Living Will
Why here? Why now?
Chapter Five
The legal side of the Living Will
The history of the Living Will
The legacies of Karen Ann Quinlan and Nancy Beth Cruzan
Federal law in response to
Quinlan
and
Cruzan
End-of-life ethics in the medical profession
Current legal status of the Living Will
Federal and state statutes
The evolution of the Living Will
One document combining both advance directives
The Uniform Health-care Decisions Act
Chapter Six
Available choices in end-of-life decision-making
Life-prolonging measures
Withholding and/or withdrawing life-sustaining measures
Euthanasia in America
Assisted suicide and physician-assisted suicide
Do-not-resuscitate orders (DNRs)
Out-of-hospital DNRs (OOH-DNRs)
Palliative care
Effective pain management
Hospice care
Organ donation
Ethical considerations
Medical considerations
Practical considerations
Chapter Seven
The proxy: Key to an effective advance directive
The role of the health care proxy
Advocacy: the proxy's primary duty
Limitations on the proxy's authority
The proxy's role after the principal's death
Choosing the person to act as your health care proxy
State law restrictions on proxy appointments
Considerations in choosing a proxy
Having the crucial conversation: "Will you be my proxy?"
Medical and end-of-life scenarios
General health care decisions
Decisions concerning end-of-life care
Potential medical and end-of-life scenarios
Chapter Eight
Lingering issues in health care and end-of-life decision-making
No DPAH and no Living Will
A DPAH and no Living Will
A Living Will and no DPAH
When an advance directive is defective under state law
Enforcing the provisions of a Living Will
Conflict among family members
Liability for failure to provide medical treatment
Liability for failure to honor the advance directive
The effectiveness of advance directives in an emergency situation
The American Medical Association's position on advance directives
Lawyer liability for failure to provide effective legal documentation
Recognition of your advance directive in another state
Chapter Nine
Documentation needed to preserve your end-of-life choices
Advance directives used throughout the United States
Minimum standards for an advance directive
Standard provisions contained in state laws
Reading the chart of states' laws
Analyzing the chart of states' laws
Advance directive labels
Type of advance directive
Statutory forms
Acts prohibited or, if allowed, only with express consent
Recognizing advance directives from other states
Out-of-hospital Do-not-resuscitate orders
Chart of advance directive laws throughout the United States
Chapter Ten
A legacy of values and beliefs: the ethical will
The old becomes new again
A work in progress
How to organize your Ethical Will
Chapter Eleven
Now what?
Super review
Caring for advance directives
The safety deposit box vs. the top of the refrigerator
Revising and revoking your advance directives
To do list
Chapter Twelve
Well, as long as you asked....
End Notes
Source Bibliography
Glossary
Index
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