USA BEST BOOK AWARDS WINNER (USABookNews.com) What you've heard is true. You need health care advance directives. Would you like to know why? In the award-winning 2006 edition of this book, "Last things first, just in case . . . Living Wills and Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care," attorney Jo Kline Cebuhar first addressed the approaching crisis surrounding aging and end-of-life care in America. Here are a few of the issues that continue to impact death and dying in the United States: Every day, 10,000 more Baby Boomers qualify for Medicare benefits. Four states have legalized physician-assisted suicide and 26 others are considering it. By 2030, there will be over 900,000 job openings for nurses-and no nurses to fill them. Twenty-five percent of the Medicare budget is spent in the last year of life for recipients. In the coming decades, the number of Americans 65 and older will double while the number of those 85 and older will triple. How is it possible to manage your health care if you're incapacitated? What if you don't have health care advance directives? What's the difference between a Living Will and a proxy appointment? Should you have POLST-type medical orders? Can your Living Will serve as a Do Not Resuscitate order? Will your advance directives be honored while you're travelling? Bringing together legal expertise, engaging stories and a plain-spoken narrative, attorney Jo Kline Cebuhar answers these questions and helps readers prepare to face the unique legal and medical challenges of death and dying in America. This user-friendly guide to creating and sharing effective health care advance directives includes: The Four Simple Steps: education, delegation, communication, documentation. The practical relevance and shortcomings of today's advance planning tools. Easy-to-grasp explanations of legal and medical terminology. Current laws and court decisions regarding death and dying in America. The importance of a health care proxy and how to choose the most qualified advocate. "Lightbulb moments "-tips and shortcuts for effective advance health care planning. The right time to make a plan for managing health care and end-of-life care is while you still can. The time is now. International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care: "This book is written for the lay person and is by far the best and clearest that I have seen. It is written in a conversational style and includes case histories to illustrate various points, but it also has lots of informative lists and a summary at the end of each chapter. It describes at length what a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care means (the appointment of a proxy decision maker, for use at such time as the principal is unable to participate in their own care, for whatever reason) and the Living Will (which specifies the principal's wishes for care in the event of a terminal or irreversibly incapacitating condition, which can be used by the proxy and physician for guidance, most importantly to do with treatment to prolong life). There is also useful guidance about how to choose your proxy and, more importantly, how to start the conversation and get it done. There are also useful chapters on Hospice and Palliative Care, Communicating with Loved Ones and Health Care Professionals, Ethical Wills (a record of what you stand for and how you want to be remembered) and a good discussion about Do Not Resuscitate orders (DNRs). This book is written for the USA, and it sounds as though the fine print in the legislation relating to Advance Directives is not the same in any two States. And the legislation will vary outside the United States, as well. But if someone, anywhere-not just the USA-wants a book to explain what Advance Directives are all about, why they need them, and how to (and how not to) go about doing it, then I would be happy to recommend this book." - Dr. Roger Woodruff, Lifetime Board Member o"