Dorothy Garske Center has helped people prepare advance directives in Arizona since 1989. We have trained health care professionals on the rights of patients to direct decisions about their own health care. We have presented at local and national consumer and professional conferences. Many advisors, some of whom are nationally recognized in the fields of medicine, law, and ethics, generously contributed their expertise to the development of our program. Our primary consultant was Terry Barnett of Tacoma, Washington.
Terry is a practicing attorney with extensive experience in medical ethics.
The significance of Terry's contribution to this project cannot be overstated. We have done our best to check our facts, but not all of the facts on many aspects of advance care planning are in. Any advice about advance directives that goes beyond the bare recitation of the relevant law, is, of necessity, substantially based on personal experience and interpretation of the limited available research. There are few rigorously defensible prescriptions. As we are not lawyers, we do not give legal advice.