The California Natural Death Act was enacted to create a standard “living will.” A “living will” is a set of written instructions regarding the determination of end‐of‐life health care decisions. California also had legislation regarding The Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, which is a written document that allows an individual to appoint another person to make health care decisions in the event that the individual has lost the decision making capability. As of July 1, 2000, both Acts are no longer in effect and have been replaced with California's new Health Care Decisions Law.
Living Wills and Powers of Attorney for Health Care executed prior to July 1, 2000 remain valid. Living Wills will not normally have an expiration date, but a Power of Attorney for Health Care may terminate on specified date. California assumes that a Power of Attorney for Health Care is binding indefinitely unless expressly valid for a specific duration.
The new California Health Care Decisions Law...
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Cook, S. (2008). California Natural Death Act. In: Loue, S.J., Sajatovic, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Aging and Public Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-33754-8_72
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