ABSTRACT
Advance directives have had the full backing of the Federal government, ever since Congress enacted the Patient Self-Determination Act in December 1991. The Act requires Medicare and Medicaid providers, such as hospitals, nursing homes, hospice programs and home health agencies to give adult individuals, at the time of admission or enrollment, information about advance directives. Because laws governing advance directives vary from state to state, make sure that patient’s advance directives are valid in the state where he live. Decisions about end-of-life care prompted by the Schiavo situation have urged legislators to reexamine their own state laws. Durable power of attorney for health care is a legal document that gives someone permission to make medical decisions for patient if he is unable to make them for himself. Bills for assisted dying have been introduced in six states and have progressed through the various committee stages, some with repeated postponement, others with rewording in subsequent hearings.
