Home And Family USA

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.

If you’re like I was, you probably think that getting all kinds of high security gadgets for your home is not a sign of prudence so much as one of paranoia. I live in the suburbs and the biggest news we generally get is the cops being called to bust up a high school party, or perhaps a screaming match from the couple down the block. So, when my cousin, a security professional, got us a fire safe for Christmas, I simply thanked him and did me best not to chuckle. He seemed to pick up on what I was thinking. “Trust me,” he said, “ with grandpa’s coin collection, and those old baseball cards, you may thank me for this fire safe one day.”

I was blessed with many years of not having to thank him for the fire safe at all. I mean think about it, how often does your house go up. Well, as I was about to find out, once is well more than enough. I had over the years put all sorts of valuables in the fire safe including wedding photos, the manuscript of my novel, baby pictures and a variety of important records. I seemed to know that something terrible would soon disrupt the perfect life that we were all living in our pleasant home.

According to the firemen, what happened was an electrical fire in the wall. The irony is that we were just starting to get the wiring redone, going from the upstairs down. Apparently, the new wiring in some of the house increased the load on the old grid in the basement, resulting in a short in the wall. Fortunately, the firemen got their very quickly and the house did not completely go down, but the basement with all my old paper records was badly damaged. Everything, that is, except for the most important ones tucked away in the fire safe.

When he came months later to check out the additions and improvements we had made repairing damage, old cousin Joe was kind enough not to rub our nose in the fire safe business. Instead, he offered us a good rate on installing more fire safes in the basement and the bedroom, to protect both against the possibility of future fires and of burglaries. The house is back in shape now. Thanks to the fire safe, our most precious possessions are intact along with our brand new rec room.