Advance care planning in the US
People who are interested in advance care planning may like to know that things are happening in the US. There’s a, what in the UK would be called, private member’s bill, the Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act 2009 before Congress, with interesting proposals that include include a hotline that tells people it would be a good idea to provide for, what in the UK would be, powers of attorney. It is similar to some of the provisions in the Mental Capacity Act.
Then an authoritative report for Congress has been produced by the Department of Health and Human Services. This is a very good 300+ page aummary of the state of play in the US, covering particularly advance decisions.
Link to information about the proposed act:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1150
Link to the HHS report to Congress:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2008/ADCongRpt.pdf