Create a living will and more with all the forms and information California families need. Living Wills & Powers of Attorney for California helps families avoid legal problems if they ever become unable to make health care or financial decisions for themselves. Step by step, it takes readers through the creation of a: . Living Will (known as an "Advance Health Care Directive") . Durable Power of Attorney for Finance . Do Not Resuscitate Order You'll also get a wallet card you can use to alert others to the existence of your advance directive, plus forms you can use if you ever want to revise or revoke a document. The fully updated 3rd edition of Living Wills & Powers of Attorney for California offers all-new material to walk you through the intricacies of planning final arrangements, along with expanded information on making difficult medical choices. Plus, your pets will be able to get the care they need in an emergency with the updated durable financial power of attorney. Nolo has dozens of products created just for California residents. -- Download forms for book at nolo.com

The Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990 required medical facilities to provide patients with written notification of their right to refuse or consent to medical treatment. Using this Act as an important vehicle for improving the health care decisionmaking process, Lawrence P. Ulrich explains the social, legal, and ethical background to the Act by focusing on well-known cases such as those of Karen Quinlan and Nancy Cruzan, and he explores ways in which physicians and other caregivers can help patients face the complex issues in contemporary health care practices. According to Ulrich, health care facilities often address the letter of the law in a merely perfunctory way, even though the Act integrates all the major ethical issues in health care today. Ulrich argues that well-designed conversations between clinicians and patients or their surrogates will not only assist in preserving patient dignity — which is at the heart of the Act—but will also help institutions to manage the liability issues that the Act may have introduced. He particularly emphasizes developing effective advance directives. Ulrich examines related issues, such as the negative effect of managed care on patient self-determination, and concludes with a seldom-discussed issue: the importance of being a responsible patient. Showing how the Patient Self-Determination Act can be a linchpin of more meaningful and effective communication between patient and caregiver, this book provides concrete guidance to health care professionals, medical ethicists, and patient-rights advocates.

[This book covers the following topics:] An Advance Health Care Directive, also called a "living will." It lets you state your wishes for health care if you become incapacitated and name a trusted person who will work with health care providers to be sure you get the kind of care you want. A Durable Power of Attorney for Finances to appoint the person of your choice to manage your finances for you if you no longer can. This book also explains Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) forms, which alert emergency medical personnel not to administer extreme life-saving measures, and POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) forms."--

Suze Orman's Financial Package is a systematic approach for organising your essential documents. The Financial Package is very different from any other product of this type, because Suze has included three CDs that actually include the forms and instructions to create your own advanced directive with durable power of attorney for health care, financial power of attorney, will, and a trust.