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Living Will Hyperbole Is Disingenuous to American Elders
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In the so-called “town hall” meetings debating the Obama
Administration’s controversial health care reform plan, shrill cries of
“euthanizing old people” to characterize potentially productive
doctor-patient conversations concerning end-of-life issues have
distorted the discourse and may cause real harm.
The debate about health care reform, especially as it pertains to
end-of-life issues, is becoming increasingly contentious in so-called
“town hall” meetings across America. Various political luminaries such
as former Vice-Presidential candidate and resigned Alaska governor
Sarah Palin have been saying some things bristling with emotionally
charged phrases. Palin released the following statement on her FaceBook
page:
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my
baby with Down’s syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death
panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide based on a subjective judgment of
their ‘level of productivity in society’ whether they are worthy of
health care,” Palin says, “Such a system is downright evil.” Palin
continued, “Health care by definition involves life and death
decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any
health care discussion.” Palin claimed that the Orwellian Obama plan
would surreptitiously herd elder Americans into euthanasia and assisted
suicide via rationing of medical treatment.
But does President Obama’s health care reform initiative really do
what she claims? In fact, the plan, although controversial, encourages
potentially productive doctor-patient conversations concerning
end-of-life issues which may indeed be relevant to most anyone. The
proposal’s language was designed to encourage doctor-patient
conversations, but it was taken out of context and distorted beyond
recognition for political advantage. In fact, a Living Will is good for
individuals, and good for the country. It gives people essential
choices about how they choose to end their days. It puts Americans in
control of their destiny. Most attorneys already discuss these issues
with their clients when preparing estate plans. Doctors often have
these discussions now with their patients. The proposed health care
reform bill will now enable the doctor to be paid for spending the time
to help patients think through these important decisions. When the
President’s mere mention of living wills used as a fear tactic to
senselessly frighten our elders , the tactic is not only dangerously
disingenuous, but may actually cause real harm. It may discourage
essential conversations between doctor and patient. Proactive Elder Law
attorneys continue to encourage their clients to create a Living Will
or an Advance Health Care Directive – before it’s too late. Under the
plan, doctors and their patients will now be encouraged to have this
conversation, as well.
Gene Osofsky is an East Bay elder law attorney in California. Gene
Osofsky specializes in Medi-Cal planning, wills, probate, trusts,
nursing home issues, special needs planning, and disability planning.
To learn more about East Bay elder law lawyers, East Bay elder law attorney, Medi-Cal planning, Medi-Cal planning lawyers and The Law Offices of Osofsky & Osofsky, visit Lawyerforseniors.com.
Family Fireworks: When a Last Will and Testament Becomes Contested
Even the most congenial of families can fight like wolverines when a
Last Will and Testament is contested. For this to happen, they don’t
have to be from Michigan.
A Last Will and Testament is a legal declaration by which a person
names one or more people to manage their estate and provides for the
transfer of property upon death.
Death is inevitable. But a careful choice in selecting an executor
is seldom a given, especially where property and money are involved.
During life, families may seem to get along fine, but the mixture of
the death of a loved one, considerable property to be disbursed, and an
executor who seems unfair or biased -- can be a recipe for conflict.
The living, prior to their passing, don’t always write out their wishes
in clear and concise ways. If there is uncertainty in a family about
what might occur upon the death of a patriarch or matriarch, for
instance, the atmosphere following death can become an emotional war
zone.
Family dynamics can disintegrate into shouting and resentment. Such
family “fireworks” have little to do with the 4th of July, and can have
long-lasting impact upon family relationships. Seemingly devoted family
members fighting like wolverines don’t require an alumni card from the
University of Michigan.
Unresolved disputes can result in a will contest. That contest can take
on a life of its own, with potentially grim consequences for family
harmony. Emotion often outshines logic in these contests. Where
disputes occur, the litigation process can stretch out seemingly
forever and become very expensive. For this reason, when preparing your
Last Will, serious thought should be given to the selection of the best
person to serve as one’s executor.
The best executor is one that approaches his or her duties
professionally, with tact, with due regard for family dynamics, and
with professional guidance from a knowledgeable attorney. If a will
contest nevertheless does occur, at least it should then be grounded in
a semblance of law and fair play. For this reason, it is important to
choose the best person to serve. If you or someone you love is named as
an executor, it is imperative that you engage a knowledgeable attorney
early on in the probate process in order to help manage the
proceedings, mediate expectations, lend assistance and guidance to the
executor, and hopefully minimize family friction. By doing so, you just
might preserve the very loving family of which the deceased was so fond.
Gene Osofsky is an East Bay elder law attorney in California. Gene
Osofsky specializes in Medi-Cal planning, wills, probate, trusts,
nursing home issues, special needs planning, and disability planning.
To learn more about East Bay elder law lawyers, East Bay elder law attorney, Medi-Cal planning, Medi-Cal planning lawyers and The Law Offices of Osofsky & Osofsky, visit Lawyerforseniors.com.
Blow Your Candles Out
Centenarian David R. Morse’s family should have seen the birthday
cake disaster coming. When Great-great-grandfather Morse tried blowing
out all the candles on his birthday cake, the result was predictable.
If it wasn’t for a California Health Insurance agent, it could have been financially tragic for his family as well.
He lived with his extended family instead of in a rest home. It was
a big family living in a big house. Grandpa-pa-pa as he was known to
all was loved and revered. Although he hated celebrating his own
birthday once he’d attained his late nineties, his annual party had
become a family tradition, and Grandpa-pa-pa Morse reluctantly went
along. The worst part was blowing out his candles with a single exhaled
breath, a perfectly timed gust expelled from his increasingly frail
frame that could put out all the candles at once so that he might “get
his wish.”
Last year at age 102 he’d wished for an end to this ordeal, but
secretly of course, so as not to disappoint his younger kin. This year,
the massive cake, with papaya-flavored frosting, was decorated with 103
candles, each like a tiny universe flickering. “Blow Grandpa-pa-pa,”
shrieked eight-year-old Adam, already a little windbag who’d easily
blown out his own candles, all eight of them, just two weeks before.
The family’s beloved centenarian was gathering his remaining breath in
a mighty storm at that very moment, but the task before him seemed
immense. Could he still do it? Grand-pa-pa Morse huffed …. and blew
with all the might he had. The result was strange. Instead of going
out, the 103 candles suddenly blazed as one! Everyone in the room, a
gaggle of Morses, gasped. Grandpa-pa-pa not only gasped, but began
wheezing. “That’s never happened before!” exclaimed Mossy Morse, his
family-values smitten granddaughter, age fifty-six, who already had
grandchildren of her own, of which Adam was one. By the time Mossy’s
husband Alexander realized there was an emergency, he’d begun putting
the cake out with a nearby extinguisher. Adam screamed,
“Grandpa-pa-pa!” when the boy saw their patriarch keel over. Moments
later, they were all in the emergency room of a nearby facility, as
Grandpa-pa-pa Morse was receiving urgent care.
Mossy Morse said out loud what most of the clan had been thinking.
“Thank goodness we anticipated this when we purchased a policy for our
beloved grandpa-pa-pa from that friendly California Health Insurance agent we met on the pier at Santa Monica,” she said.
“Will Grandpa-pa-pa be able to blow out his candles next year?”
asked Adam with a touch of naiveté. All Adam got for asking the
question was a big hug from everybody – including his now reinvigorated
grandpa-pa-pa.
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
Golfing Nightmare Ends Happily
Thanks to an insurance policy provided by a California Health Insurance agent, the hospitalization of Bob Parr’s golfing buddy was covered.
Bob was kidded about his name whenever he played golf. “How come you
never make pars?” his golfing buddies teased. The truth be known -- Bob
Parr was a lousy golfer. He shanked or hooked most drives, and
popcorned his iron shots. He missed putts less than four inches in
length. “I’ve never seen anybody do that,” remarked Bob’s friend John
P. Knotworth. But on the 12th hole, a par-three dogleg, the unfortunate
Knotworth was standing about fifty feet down the fairway when Bob Parr
struck his fateful tee shot with an ancient driver. Knotworth was way
off to the side and seemingly safely out of Bob’s line of fire. The
golf ball, a brand new dimpled Titleist, had other ideas. Struck hard
by big Bob, who stood six foot six and weighed close to 250 pounds
without his cleats, the Titleist careened on a straight diagonal,
striking John P. squarely on his forehead before he had a chance to
duck, knocking him cold. Pete and Gary, two other members of the
foursome, gazed upon the scene in horror. Bob was mortified by the
accident he’d caused. “Oh no!” Bob screamed. John P. Knotworth
resembled a dead sunfish lying by a golf course pond even by the time
the paramedics arrived.
The next day when the foursome had gathered in John P.’s hospital
room, the victim was conscious and smiling, although the raised welt on
his forehead looked angrier than the sting of a hornet. Pete and Gary
were grinning too, but big Bob was worried – perhaps because he’d been
responsible. “I’ll pay your bill,” Bob offered graciously, “it’s the
least I can do.”
John P. Knotworth laughed a hearty laugh that sounded a bit like a
long drive struck correctly, straight as an arrow. The knot on his
forehead must have still been hurting, but he didn’t let on. “Forget
about it. My California Health Insurance agent sold me a policy a while
back. We got you covered Bob.”
Pete and Gary joined John P. in a fit of manly laughter that must
have lasted for two minutes while Bob just stood there, finally
managing a sheepish grin of his own.
“I’ll practice more on the driving range,” Bob promised. “I’ll hit five hundred balls!”
Pete was a jokester right then. “Better make that a million!” he said. That line got everybody laughing.
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
Farm Boy Heads off to Big City College
Parents purchase health insurance for their son while he's enrolled in the Agriculture Program at UCLA -- just in case.
Trevor Young came from a nice maggot-farming Mormon family just
north of Pocatello. Blonde, Trevor was quite the handsome country boy,
when he headed off to UCLA to study Agriculture. In his pocket was his
"trick" for impressing young women, a sample from his Idaho farm.
"Maybe I'll meet somebody to marry up with," he told his mother, a
stout matronly sort. "Are you bringing your little box?" she asked
sweetly. "Of course," Trevor said, "It's the best lure I got." His
mother nodded. "If she doesn't like your little box, then she's not
good enough for my boy," Trevor's mother opined. She and her husband,
Hyrum, had also gifted their son with health insurance coverage
purchased from a California Health Insurance agent. "We won't worry so much," she told her ninth-born.
Once on campus, Trevor settled in. One of his roommates noticed the
little box. Left unattended on a bureau top, it was oval, smelled of
chocolate on the outside, and was purple. "What's in this Farm Boy?"
the guy asked. Max Weinart was a junior majoring in International
Finance from the Bronx and guessed precious jewelry, like a ring, was
in it.
"It's for a special girl," Trevor explained, implying to Max that
the contents were none of his business. Max nodded, assuming he'd
guessed right.
A few weeks later at a formal soiree, Trevor met that "special"
girl, Karen. Big-boned but pretty, she hailed from Jersey. She later
regretted popping the question. "What kind of farming does your family
do?"
"Wait, I'll show you." Out came the box, the one that had so
intrigued the girls from north of Pocatello. Karen gasped at the
contents in horror, screamed and reflexively punched, smacking Trevor
in the jaw and knocking him cold.
While recovering in the UCLA Medical Center, with his jaw expertly
wired, Trevor spoke through clenched teeth. "I got insurance," he told
Max, who'd come to visit.
"I heard what happened," he said, "But why did you show that girl a box of dead maggots?"
"It was my fault," Trevor admitted, "the live ones are so pink and
beautiful. I should have figured that when I'm home, they keep better."
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
AIM and Income Disregard Programs Help Out California Expectant Moms
Expectant moms unable to afford health insurance coverage may
qualify for the Access for Infants and Mothers Program (AIM) or else
the Medi-Cal Income Disregard Program, both administered by the State
of California.
If the Terminator's controversial budget cuts somehow spare them,
two health insurance options that financially struggling expecting
mothers might target is AIM – The Access for Infants and Mothers
program, a health insurance program administered by the State of
California that is not a Medi-Cal program, and one that is the Medi-Cal
Income Disregard Program.
AIM provides full coverage private health insurance at low cost to
pregnant women during pregnancy as well as a full two months into
postnatal. To be eligible, the family's income must fall between 200%
and 300% of the Federal Poverty Level amount as configured by the size
of the applicant's family. Property limits do not apply. Applications
are accepted at local Social Service Agency Intake offices where an
appointment with an Information Supervisor is appropriate.
Although the Income Disregard Program has a lower income threshold
for eligibility, it involves considerably more "red tape." Pregnant
women seeking "Income Disregard" coverage must apply in person by
visiting one of the Social Service Agency Intake offices and filling it
out an application or calling an Intake office and asking for a
mail-in-Medi-Cal application. Again, the Information Supervisor is the
key contact person. But to "disregard" your income, you first must
prove that you don't have any, more or less. Applicants must provide
proof of identity, proof of pregnancy, proof of Social Security number,
proof of immigration status, proof of California residency, and perhaps
most crucially, proof of income. So expect to bring along a slew of
documents to your interview.
Requirements are stringent because the Income Disregard Program is
true to its name. To eligible pregnant women, this special Medi-Cal
program provides prenatal and postnatal care to pregnant women at no
cost. But pregnant women applying for this program must be fully
evaluated by an Eligibility Worker (EW) at one of the Intake offices
and determined to have a share of cost. A share of cost is roughly
equivalent to a monthly deductible. It is the amount for medical
expenses that a Medi-Cal beneficiary must pay or be obligated to pay
prior to any reimbursement for medical expenses by Medi-Cal. Also, the
net nonexempt family income must not exceed 200% of the Federal Poverty
Level while eligibility can begin no earlier than the first day of the
month the pregnancy is reported.
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
Maple Tree Allergy
All 13-year-old Billy Blalock wanted to do was rake his neighbor’s
leaves to earn some spending money. When the sneezing fits began, the
boy’s plans were threatened unless he could swallow a potent
antihistamine prescribed by the family doctor. Thankfully, a California Health Insurance Agent had made the price of the pills a little easier for Billy’s parents to swallow.
Billy Blalock was eager to earn extra money. He needed a new
skateboard and Playstation 3, but his parents were scrimping just to
get by. His “job,” raking leaves at the Jones next door in their modest
Rancho Bernardo ‘hood’, seemed like a no-brainer. When Sally Jones, a
pert brunette thirty-something whom Billy considered “a second mom,”
agreed to Billy’s raking after school, the teenager was elated.
“I can rake!” he exclaimed to Betty, his first mom, “I can rake!”
“Yes you can,” she replied deadpan, sort of like a 34-year-old feminine version of a Caucasian Barack Obama.
But a strange thing happened on the way to Billy’s raking.
Underneath the Jones’s imported maple tree, an exotic from New England,
Billy sneezed. He returned to raking. He sneezed again. He started
raking again, a bit more tentatively this time. Suddenly he sneezed in
a burst, once, twice, three times, perhaps a hundred times as he
couldn’t stop sneezing. Billy was sneezing so hard he was crying. He
ran away in tears from the poisonous tree straight to Sally’s ample
bosom. “Second mom! Second mom!” Billy cried, “I can’t.”
“You can’t what?” Sally asked, noticing the tears in the eyes of her neighbor’s son.
“Rake,” Billy blurted, sobbing.
Billy’s real mom Betty decided to seek a medical solution since they’d purchased an individual child’s plan from a California Health Insurance
agent. Dr. Quag was friendly to Billy at his office and patted his
belly several times, which seemed a bit weird to the boy. The
prescription, however, gave Billy hope. The doctor prescribed sixty
milligrams twice a day of a drug called fexofenadine, also referred to
as Allegra, and the funny thing was, Billy had even heard of it, having
seen it recently on a TV commercial.
“Allegra,” Billy said, “I’ll be taking Allegra so I can rake by the maple tree!”
“Yes, you can,” said Dr. Quag, “if you remember to take your peach-colored pills!”
Betty was there too. “It’s peachy that Billy’s Allegra isn’t costing me out of pocket,” she said.
“Are they peach flavored?” Billy asked.
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
Sneaking Candy
Pamela Longbottom tried to sneak a jawbreaker from her
eight-year-old’s bag after returning home from trick-or-treating.
Biting into the hard candy provoked a scream of pain, however, and an
unexpected trip to their dentist. Having purchased dental coverage from
a California Health Insurance agent eventually allowed her to smile again.
Pamela Longbottom, a single mom, decided to go out trick-or treating
with Morticia, her pale-looking eight-year-old. She was pleasantly
surprised when the choice of her daughter’s name was greeted positively
for once by one of the family’s more astute neighbors. “Oh, I see
you’re out with little Morticia,” Mrs. Joan Doe observed brightly, “on
All Hallow’s Eve that seems right somehow.” The Doe’s were related to
another family of Does down the block, John and Jane and their children
Jack, Jubilee, and Tittera, who was in Morticia’s class at school. Doe
was such an unusual name, Pamela mused. It was at Joan Doe’s house when
several jawbreakers were dropped blithely into Morticia’s bag, as the
child flashed a jack o’ lantern smile through a forest of mixed
fang-like teeth, baby and permanent.
The trouble began at home when Pamela started inspecting her
daughter’s treats. When Morticia wasn’t looking, she stole a raspberry
jawbreaker, hoping that her cherub wouldn’t notice. Pamela popped the
hard candy into her gob, and stupidly bit down. “Owwh!” she screamed.
Morticia was horrified. “You stole one of my candies!” she bawled.
“You’re sick!”
Pamela shot her progeny a look of sheer pain.
The next morning she visited her dentist, and thanked her lucky
stars (she was into astrology) that the dentist’s bill for $467.52
would be covered under the comprehensive dental plan she’d purchased a
few months earlier from a California Health Insurance agent.
Back at home, Pamela was watching enviously as her daughter sucked
the remaining jawbreakers, raspberry, strawberry, and peach, savoring
them with her mouth partially open, each time, it seemed, just to
irritate her mother as Pamela was preparing a grocery list. Morticia
would draw out the sucking and mouth movements in the manner of a
feeding spider, making obnoxious noises and tongue gestures
simultaneously. The display was hideous and finally, Pamela who was
very distracted lost her patience. “Stop it Morticia!” she screamed.
“I will Mommy,” Morticia said, “but don’t you wish that Halloween came more than once a year?”
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
The Big Scooter Race
Scooter races can be dangerous, especially in a motor home park for seniors when the seniors are the ones doing the racing. A California health insurance agent prevented the worst carnage: the financial kind.
74-year-old Padraig O’Brien loved to watch those scooter commercials on
TV. “You can have your scooter, with no out-of-pocket expense,” the
announcer crooned. Like several of his friends at the Elysium Trailer
Park in Oxnard, Padraig was otherwise confined to a wheelchair. One day
Padraig and several peers purchased dandy electric-powered scooters
using their Medicare Supplement insurance policies to help defray their
cost. Visiting the Grand Canyon while maneuvering among crowds of
tourists on their scooters didn’t appeal to anyone at Elysium, but once
everyone had their scooters, something else became evident: the thrill
of scooter speed.
“I think we should set up a race track,” suggested Tony Pilano, at
79, a near-octogenarian assumed to be Elysium’s resident sage. Mary
Falafel, who spoke Arabic but wasn’t a 73-year-old terrorist,
preferring to decorate or draw, agreed. “I can make banners,” she said.
She loved to draw nude men.
The race track was set up along the trailer park’s wide walking
paths. In preparation for the big scooter race, the “main drag” was
clearly marked by Mary’s banners, a few of them rather lewd. Fourteen
scooters set to race lined up. Someone had brought a starter’s pistol.
The electric hum of racing scooters was vaguely reassuring to many in
the crowd of geezer gawkers.
Tony and Padraig jousted for the lead, each rubbing the other like
NASCAR drivers. Mary was running a strong third. As her scooter tipped,
she reached for what she thought was a convenient handle …
Exactly what occurred in those next crucial two seconds will never be precisely known.
The aftermath featured the friendly California Health Insurance
agent dutifully tying up loose ends after the participants had returned
to Elysium. Mary brought up what was on everybody’s mind. “Let’s have
another race,” she exclaimed. A silence ensued leaving her words
hanging in the California air.
A tear formed in Padraig’s eye. “Tony would have liked that,” he concluded.
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
The Night Rudy Played Tackle
He was the biggest-boned kid in the 16-member Pedroia clan. At age
14, Rudy was downright husky as Pedroias went, graced with good looks
and a sturdy physical stature freshly bestowed upon him by puberty. But
in the harsh glare of the stadium klieg lights, he weighed only 87
pounds fully dressed in pads and gear, and a California health insurance agent triumphantly emerged as the family’s hero.
Bakersfield’s Rudy Pedroia was a born athlete. At age ten, his
father, Randy, first spied his son’s potential. When the kid pranced
barefoot in the summer heat, “My boy has an athlete’s foot,” he
casually remarked.
Rudy practiced. He knew every play. Fleet of athlete’s foot, the day
came when he made the varsity squad. A freshman, the Pedroia’s little
star sat on the bench on that fateful night. His wise parents had
purchased a child’s individual plan for their son, just in case. Rudy
was third-string; at four feet five and 87 pounds, no one beyond the
Pedroia clan figured that Rudy would actually play. Still, the entire
family watched as they always did. Randy was proud. “He has athlete’s
feet!” he would brag to anyone within earshot while attracting looks of
mild disdain. Finally Rudy’s big moment came. The home team’s
first-string tackle broke an ankle and was carried off the field on a
stretcher. The second-string tackle got clotheslined in the groin and
nearly lost his tackle. When that unconscious 200-pounder was carted
off, the coach looked at the bench and saw … “You!” he barked, “Get in
there!” The crowd uttered a collective gasp. “He’s so shrimpy!”
somebody’s grandmother screeched. But Rudy knew the plays.
It didn’t really matter. While attempting to trip up the touchdown
sprint of a monstrous fullback, Rudy’s outstretched toes served as a
launching pad for the opposing team’s end zone. The sound of a Pedroia
metatarsal crunching could be heard at the fifty-yard line.
Gathered around Rudy’s bed in his semi-private room where all three
of Bakersfield High’s wounded players were hospitalized, only Rudy’s
family was smiling. “What?” Randy Pedroia said, “My son has athlete’s
feet!” Since they had purchased a teenager’s plan from a California Health Insurance agent, they could afford to smile.
Matt Lockard – California Health Insurance agency offers health
insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available
are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to Mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote and to learn more about California health insurance, California medicare supplements, California health insurance quotes.
