For Immediate Release
|
|
CONTACT: Teresa Weidemann-Smith
State Bar of Wisconsin
(800) 444-9404, ext. 6025
twsmith@wisbar.org |
|
|
Educate the public to avoid a situation like Terri
Schiavo
Free Advance Health Care Planning Guide Helps to Document Future
Needs
MADISON, March 23, 2005 - In light of the recent
developments in the Terri Schiavo case, the State Bar of Wisconsin
reminds Wisconsin families about the importance of documenting their
future health care needs. A free consumer guide, A Gift to Your Family:
Planning Ahead for Future Heath Care Needs, is available at http://www.legalexplorer.com/.
"It is important that everyone - young, old, newlyweds, students, new
parents, etc. - discuss their medical care directives with their
families and have those medical directives legally documented," said
Brian Purtell, Health Care Section Committee Chair. "This free guide
helps families begin the important step of discussing future health care
needs."
The guide,developed by Wisconsin lawyers and medical experts,
provides information, instructions and medical forms and answers
questions about advance care planning issues, such as the power of
attorney for health care, living wills, and organ and tissue
donation.
The State Bar joined forces with the Wisconsin Health & Hospital
Association, the Wisconsin Medical Society and Gundersen Lutheran
Medical Center in a statewide public service campaign on life planning
beginning in 1999. Since then, over 145,000 guides have been distributed
to the general public.
Download a free guide at http://www.legalexplorer.com/resources/life.asp
. To order preprinted copies, contact the State Bar of Wisconsin, (800)
728-7788. Individual copies are $2.99 + tax.
The State Bar of Wisconsin is the mandatory
professional association, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, for
attorneys who hold a law license in Wisconsin. With more than 20,000
members, the State Bar aids the courts in improving the administration
of justice, provides continuing legal education for its members to help
them maintain their expertise, and assists Wisconsin lawyers in carrying
out community service initiatives to educate the public about the legal
system and the value of lawyers.
Press Releases