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Legal

The information on this Web site is presented for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for informed medical advice or training. Do not use this information to diagnose or treat a mental health problem without consulting a qualified health or mental health care provider.

This Web site provides links to other sites not owned or controlled by OLESEM that we think might be useful or of interest to you. The Web has an abundance of sites with information on wellness and mental health issues. Some sites are informative and based on good authority, others are merely entertaining. While we have been careful to research each site in hopes of providing you credible and accurate information, OLESEM does not endorse or guarantee references or a site listed and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices used by other site owners.

However, none of these sites is a satisfactory substitute for professional help. When people face serious personal problems that defy easy solutions, it usually is time to seek the services of qualified professionals. With that limitation in mind, the following Web sites may be of interest:

• American Bar Association
  Community section of the ABA Web site provides basic information on legal topics.
• ABA Legal Aid Explained
  An American Bar Association site. This is a great site to get general and specific information about legal services and referrals.
• Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement State and Local Child Support (IV-D) Agencies
  This site lists the various state offices available throughout the USA.
• Find Law
  A site providing articles on legal topics and links to federal and state codes and case law.
• Five Wishes Document
  An Aging with Dignity resource. The Five Wishes document helps you express how you want to be treated if you are seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself. It is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person's needs: medical, personal, emotional and spiritual. Five Wishes also encourages discussing your wishes with your family and physician. Five Wishes lets your family and doctors know:
  
  1. Which person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can't make them.
  2. The kind of medical treatment you want or don't want.
  3. How comfortable you want to be.
  4. How you want people to treat you.
  5. What you want your loved ones to know.
  The document is valid in all but 15 states. Click here for more information. The 15 that Five Wishes is not legally valid in, either requires a specific state form or that the person completing an advance directive be read a mandatory notice or "warning." Residents of these states can still use Five Wishes to put their wishes in writing and communicate their wishes with their family and physician. Most health care professionals understand they have a duty to listen to the wishes of their patients no matter how they are expressed.
• Partnership for Caring
  America's Voices for the Dying Stateis a national nonprofit organization that partners individuals and organizations in a powerful collaboration to improve how people die in our society. Among other services, Partnership for Caring operates the only national crisis and information hotline dealing with end-of-life issues and provides state-specific living wills and medical powers of attorney. (Also called Advance Directives)