Do you have a Health Care Proxy, HIPAA Statement, and advanced directive (in my office that would be the workbook called Your Way)? If you are in a hospital or rehab and are being transferred to another medical institution, bring copies with you. Do not assume these will be transferred to the...
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Have an Advanced Directive? Put it into Language that Doctors Understand
If you have an advance directive (in my office, that’s the Your Way workbook), and if you have a terminal or very serious illness, take your advance directive one step further and have your doctor convert it into “doctor’s orders.” If you have been in a hospital, then you know that all care...
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Get Input from Your Doctor to Develop Your Advance Directive
I give the “Your Way” workbook to every client who signs a Health Care Proxy. This workbook allows you to spell out to your family what your end-of-life wishes are.
If you have a serious or terminal illness, complete the Your Way workbook in pencil, and then go over it with your...
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Who Will Make Your End-Of-Life Decisions When You Are Incapacitated?
As we get older, the threat of illness or injury increases, and many of us wonder what will happen if we fall or get injured. Who will make important healthcare decisions if we become incapacitated? How will medical personnel know how to treat us if we cannot communicate with them? The answer to all...
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Does Your Special Needs Child Really Need a Guardianship?
Last week I gave a presentation to Weymouth parents of special needs young adults, and from our conversation, it was clear that the school system was telling them that when a special needs child turns 18, the family must obtain a guardianship. As I’ve written elsewhere, this costs money, involves lawyers, and requires...
Howard Gleckman’s New Book: Caring for Our Parents
Driving to work on Friday, I had the treat of listening to NPR's Robin Young interview Howard Gleckman on his new book, Caring for Our Parents: Inspiring Stories of Families Seeking New Solutions to America’s Most Urgent Health Crisis. I only caught the end of the interview, but it was so reassuring to hear...
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End of Life Wishes & Living Wills
Clients are always asking about living wills. Massachusetts law does not recognize a living will, and it's also impossible to write a thorough, well balanced statement of your end of life wishes in just a few paragraphs.
I provide clients with a solution to their goal, but in a much better form. I give my...
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My Spouse Died – What Do I Need to Do to Protect Myself?
After a spouse dies and the family gets through the funeral, the immediate concern is to square away the couple's assets and make sure the surviving spouse has enough to live on. After that, there is one more step to take: protecting yourself.
One area where you need to be proactive is to consider who...
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Why Should My Elder Law Attorney Draft My Health Care Proxy? I Have the Form from the Hospital.
Massachusetts hospitals hand patients a two-page Health Care Proxy form that was developed in 1999 and does not accommodate for changes in the law since then or for issues pertinent to elders.
You probably have signed a "HIPAA" form by now at your doctor's office. This form allows the doctor's office to share your confidential information with...
It Just Got More Expensive to Ignore Your Estate Planning in Massachusetts
As part of your estate planning work, your attorney will prepare a Durable Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy. These documents are critical to allow another person whom you appoint to legally care for you when you are unable to manage your own affairs, for example, if you are in a car...