With POA, perhaps you should go ahead and prepay the burial. Is the nursing home bill subsidized by Medicaid already or is that still to come? If so, Medicaid will take whatever charges accrued... but I sense that she still has assets that would prevent Medicaid from kicking in. The FIRST creditor to file will be paid first in some states, and the executor of her estate is charged with the duty to publish her death and call for creditors to present their bills. This could take some time and it appears there is not much left in any case.

The burial prepayment would be the first thing I would pay... but then I'd leave the rest in her estate... you never know, in these economic times, there could be bankruptcies that would wipe out some of her creditors. While they could still come after her assets at her death, that could be quite a long time, so she could still escape having those bills come due. Obviously, the government programs will always be there with their palms up to take her assets to the limit of her indebtedness for Medicaid.