Do you have an advanced directive?

In case the Terri Schiavo travesty has got you thinking about having advanced directives in place (and according to the group Aging With Dignity, requests for forms are up tenfold - they're sending out 2000 living wills a day), here are some resources:

The American Bar Association tool kit

The American Academy of Family Physicians

U.S. Living Will Registry (which electronically stores living will and organ donor info and makes the info available to health care providers 24 hours/day)

California's resource page is terrific. Your state may have one, too. (Check the ABA site.)

If thinking about this stuff gives you the creeps, please read the book Talking About Death Won't Kill You by Virginia Morris, excerpted here.

This is a very simple thing to do, it will give you peace of mind, and it could help to prevent exactly the kind of pain and turmoil the Schiavo/Schindler/US Congress case is heaping upon an already tragic situation.