|
Once you become disabled, you focus on day-to-day life and overlook sometimes important documents like a Living Will, Durable Health Care Power of Attorney and other documents that may not seem important at the time. After seeing the Terri Schiavo/Schindler case play out, life care documents became important to definitely express what you want ahead of time instead of doing nothing. Add to that when family does not agree on what should be done, it becomes an extremely painful matter for all involved and the courts may also become involved. If you are wondering where you could get the blank documents for free to just look over and think about, our state provides them through the State Attorney General's office. Once we have completed them, we can choose to register our forms in a a confidential registry with the state that a hospital can check just in case I have fallen again and am in a coma with brain damage. (My first fall I got a concussion, my second fall I hit my head and actually messed up my jaw and did get limited brain damage so I am a realist as to what can happen in the blink of an eye.) The documents in the registry I can cancel or change at any time. If you are interested, you might want to check with your State Attorney General's office. If they don't have them, ask where you can get life care care planning documents for free and you can even mention that you don't want to end up like Terri Schiavo's situation--that may jog their memory as to exactly what they call the whole packet and where to get them. Each state may have named the documents differently, but our state provides a packet that includes: (A) General Information about state laws related to future incapacity ( Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about life care planning and advanced directives. (1) Durable Health Care Power of Attorney (2) Living Will (End of Life Care) (3) Durable Mental Health Care Power Of Attorney [should you need to enter a mental hospital and it provides what care you will accept and what you will not accept and sets forth who is your agent, etc.--in other words, it sets forth someone to legally act on your behalf with the mental hospital.] (4) Letter to My Agent (Representative) [which explains that you want them to be your agent and representative involving which documents and the reponsibilities they have as your representative. It also provides authorization to disclose and discuss the documents with others when it becomes necessary.] It doesn't hurt to get the documents and look them over. Personally, I consider information to be a disabled person's power. And if you will be seeing an attorney, get the free documents anyway and read them over BEFORE you see the attorney so you are informed about what these documents are and what they include and you may want the attorney to prepare documents similar to them but you want more issues addressed in the paperwork he prepares. Remember, its all just food for thought. A good rule of life is do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup |
Permanently Disabled Support Forums
