Estate Planning is for Children Too

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Do you know that when your children reach 18 years old, you will no longer be allowed to make medical decisions for them?  Actually, your right to see their medical records or speak to their doctor is no longer compulsory enforced.

Any parent has a fear of hearing that their child was involved in a medical emergency - whether it’s a physical catastrophe or a car accident, they would usually be notified or rushed into action.  However, under the law, your own 18-year old and above children need to name you as a health-care proxy first before you can have anything to say about their medical treatment.

Health-care proxies are documents allowing you to assign another person to make medical decisions for you if you’re unable to do it yourself.  Another document, called the living will, is a statement of medical wishes if you become ill.

Therefore, estate planning is not only for seniors.  Adult children should also have durable power of attorney as well as a health-care proxy too.  Since these are complicated documents, it’s best to speak to your family attorney.  If you don’t have one, just seek advice from any qualified estate planning attorney in your state.

Tags: adult, attorney, children, documents, Estate Planning, health-care proxy, law, living will, medical, parent, seniors, will
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Medical Malpractice Happens

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Medical hit-and-runs happen when patients are gravely injured or killed by medical error. These are errors that can be prevented but sometimes, nurses and doctors pretend like nothing happened. This occurs almost every day across America. However, most patients cannot tell the difference between “normal stuff” and preventable harm.

And when families learn the truth either from accident or from hiring a lawyer, their confidence and trust in the medical system may vanish in an instant. The medical injury compounded by lying and betrayal carries a long-lasting and searing pain for these families.

The only way that these victims of medical malpractice can fight back is through their right to sue. Certainly, they can claim financial compensation to stave off the possible bankruptcy of a serious injury or death. These cases can leave the family with huge medical bills or unending debt.

Remember that the healing process for these medical injuries is filing a lawsuit. Some say that they don’t really want revenge, just to save other people from experiencing the same thing.

It’s possible that the medical industry today is beginning to neglect patient safety. More than a decade after entering the 21^st century, the industry denies the legitimate role of patients in enforcing and monitoring their own safety. In fact, a complex structure of “privilege” and confidentiality laws are ensuring that safety reviews are never reported in any form accessible to the public.

Tags: Injury, lawsuit, lawyer, medical, medical industry, medical injury, medical malpractice, system
Posted in Injury, Medical Malpractice | No Comments »