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Of all things consistent in the fallout after Terri's passing, one topic recurs with stubborn consistency and we hear both sides of it time and again, not necessarily the best advice.

That topic is "Living Wills". Ironically, the weakness of "living wills" is illustrated by what happened to Terri. As hubby may have said, "We don't need no steenkin living wills."

A different approach may be to review what the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation put out on their website, "Will To Live"

Here is the story published today in the Olympian...

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The Terri Schiavo case two years ago crystalized for many the need to leave clear directions in case of severe illness, says Wynne Whitman, a tax trust and estate lawyer in Morristown, N.J.

As the country was riveted by the disagreement between Schiavo's parents and husband over whether her feeding tube should be removed, queries about setting up living wills poured into Whitman's office.

Whitman and Louisville, Ky.-based oncologist Shawn Glisson have co-written "Wants, Wishes, and Wills," a new book that combines legal and medical advice for protecting yourself and your family - in sickness and in health.

In short, they outline four musts:

- a will, to divide up your assets after you die.

- a "living will" that outlines how much health care you'd want if you can no longer make that decision.

- a health care proxy that appoints someone to make medical decisions for you, again if you're unable.

- and power of attorney that designates someone to make financial decisions for you, such as paying taxes or selling property, if you can't.

Dying has become more complicated, Whitman argues, citing treatment for diseases such as Alzheimer's. "Our population is aging," she says. "We see a lot more cognitive defects. We also see the ability for people to live much longer with what traditionally may have been diseases that were really death sentences."

YOUR TWO CENTS -- Saying 'I will'

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Meanwhile, this appears today in the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation website. What makes me wince is that for a time in Oregon, our son was prescribed phenobarb in much smaller doses, nevertheless suffering the other effects.

New visitors can be better informed checking out the abundance of information in their website.

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For the past two years, the family of Hillsboro software engineer Wendy Melcher has believed that Melcher died from cancer.

What they didn’t know, until last week, was that four days before Melcher died in August 2005 two Portland-area nurses gave her massive amounts of drugs intended to cause her death. The drugs were administered in what the nurses would later call an assisted-suicide plan directed by Melcher.

The nurses have admitted to the Oregon State Board of Nursing that they administered doses of morphine and phenobarbital without informing Melcher’s physician. Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act — the only such law in the nation — allows assisted suicide but only with the assistance of a physician.

The nurses now are under investigation for possible criminal wrongdoing by state police and the Oregon attorney general after a former employee of the Oregon State Board of Nursing two weeks ago provided Gov. Ted Kulongoski information about the case.

Read Entire Story . . .

Comments From Wesley J. Smith . . .

Nurses' Role in Death Probed

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