Home And Family USA

The laws are changing regarding the entrance into Canada and Mexico from the United States. People are now required to have a passport to cross the borders. In the past a driver’s license or birth certificates were suggested, however they were rarely checked. We live in the state of Minnesota so there are many opportunities to cross the border into Canada. Our next door neighbor’s are retired so they spend the winter months in Texas, so they go across the border often. They went to get their passports and have run into quite a problem.

To begin with my neighbor has had a rocky relationship with her mother for her entire life. Her mother has made it very clear that she never wanted a girl. My neighbor’s mother is now 93 years old and has been on her death bed for five years. She tells my neighbor how much she enjoys when her sons come to visit, but she rarely says anything about my neighbor driving four hours to visit her twice a month. My neighbor has a healthy attitude about this poor relationship with her mother, and she does not let it affect her life.

When the neighbors went to get their passports they had their birth certificates and other documents that are required. They were told that the birth certificates had to be certified copies from the county that the birth was recorded in. My neighbor’s husband had his, but she had the certificate that is given out from the hospital with the footprints on it. These are considered souvenir birth certificates and cannot be used for legal documents. My neighbor contacted the county that she was born in and they sent the certified copy of her record of birth. In the location for the name it stated baby girl. The souvenir certificate had her name on it, but not the official certificate. My neighbor did not think this was going to be a problem because all the other information matched.

When she took both birth certificates back to obtain the passport she was told that she needed to show prove that she was baby girl. They told her a copy of her marriage certificate would work, but she is married a second time so her maiden name is not on her current marriage certificate so that the two last names are not linked. She has contacted the drivers license bureau to get a copy of the original drivers license that she had with her maiden name, but that was so many years ago they could not locate it. She did locate her high school transcripts and have had them sent over to the passport bureau. This process has taken several weeks so most of us now refer to her as baby girl. She states that even from her death bed her mother is making it known that she never planned on having a girl because she did not even have a name picked out when she went to the hospital.

With all of the right to life and end of life issues that we have heard about in Congress and the media recently, the living will topic has proven itself to be a hot one. The difficult situation faced by Terri Schiavo’s family played itself out in the media for all to see. The sensitive questions raised by this event made their way to Congress where passionate debates on both sides mirrored those that raged in the public. Some of the turmoil of this case could have been prevented with a simple legal document.

The most common questions surrounding a living will concern who should have one and what they do. I work in the legal field, but I am not a lawyer. This means that you cannot take what I say here as legal advice. Having said that, it is my opinion, which based on experience, that a living will does not do all that people may think that it can.

If you have serious concerns about whether your wishes about medical care will be respected, you should give some serious thought to putting a health care power of attorney in place. A health care power of attorney can get very specific when it comes to how you want to be treated in the event that you are seriously ill or incapacitated. If you do happen to become incapacitated, you will want someone that you trust to make decisions for you. This is where a living will drops the ball.

A friend or loved one may only be able to access your important medical information in order to make informed decisions on your behalf if they have power of attorney. In 1996 congress passed a law commonly known as HIPAA that requires a patient’s consent before any medical information can be released to a third party. A living will can not get someone access to this information. A doctor or hospital may not honor your wishes as laid out in a living will.

A living will does not designate whom you wish to act for you if you are unable. A living will may simply state your wishes with respect to organ donation and life support issues. There appears to be a gaping gray area in which a patient may be ill, but has some hope of recovery. A living will may not be able to cover the gray areas and decisions are much more difficult to make when things are gray and not black and white.

If you are thinking about creating a living will for yourself or a loved one, I strongly suggest that you speak with a lawyer about the effectiveness of a living will versus a health care power of attorney. You may end up spending a bit more money in the process but you will be afforded with, potentially, much more freedom for yourself and your loved ones in the event that you become seriously ill and need an advocate.