HIPAA information

Credit a Google search gone astray for this post. HIPAA manages to get itself intertwined into several areas of my practice without really being part of my law practice. I took a look at an entry for the Health Care Law Blog on new enforcement procedures. If you have an interest in health care law, I suggest you take a take a look at the whole blog.

That page took me to the enforcement page at the Health and Human Services website. Further links go to pages detailing the enforcement process, enforcement highlights and case examples.

For consumers, I suggest also checking out this page which links to more educational pages of a general interest. Lawyers should find the links to statutes and the federal regulations of some use, too.

Final Resting Place a Gas Tank?

Combining estate planning and funerals homes is rather common in my practice. Combining those subjects with cars is uncommon. If you listen to National Public Radio, then you are probably aware of the show "Car Talk." No other show mines the humor in car repair and maintenance as does "Car Talk". I never thought the show would be the subject of a blog post, especially one related to estate planning. Actually, the show was the subject of posts on two different blogs and this is the third. The following is from Charles R. Goerth's blog:

Disposal of remains is not a laughing matter, but laughter can be excused if the remains are one’s own, I guess.

That’s what I concluded upon reading the posting today on Neil E. Hendershot’s Estate Planning Blog relating the Car Talk exchange between Click and Clack regarding use of an automobile to dispose of one’s cremains. (Cremains is the current descriptor in some quarters for cremation.)

Yes, that kind of topic does raise an eyebrow or maybe both. Both previous writers handle the issue quite well, but I came to a stop at this point:

Thinking about what to do with cremains is a question which comes up regularly in estate planning consultation. But first, recognize that this direction for disposition of remains shouldn’t appear in a Will. It should go into a Health Care Power of Attorney.

Mr. Goerth does not explain that a Will does not get probated until after the funeral. As in Pennsylvania, Indiana law gives the person designated to have the power of attorney (they are called an attorney-in-fact) under a Health Care Power of Attorney the power to decide on the principal's (that is the person creating a Power of Attorney) funeral arrangements. However, Indiana law also provides another method for the setting up of funeral arrangements prior to death. This other method is a pre-need funeral trust.

I always mention a pre-need funeral trust to my estate planning clients. The funeral homes do the paperwork for this kind of trust. The client would go to the funeral home of their choice, make their funeral arrangements (and I am including cremation when I use "funeral" here), and an insurance policy is bought to fund the trust. Nothing further needs done by anyone - client, family, or attorney-in-fact - when time comes to make any funeral arrangements. The client receives the funeral that the client wants without imposing upon the attorney-in-fact the hard choice of making funeral arrangements.

Advanced Directives - Good Idea from Vermont?

From the Elder Law Prof Blog:

Vermont agency establishes advance directives registry

Vermonters can now file an advance directive that will ensure that a person's critical health care decisions will be honored during a time of incapacitating illness, coma, or end-of-life care. The advance directive will be maintained in a registry called the "Vermont Advance Directive Registry" established by the Vermont Department of Health. Locating the documents and finding the proper designated "agent" to make health decisions is often a stumbling block to following patient wishes when the patient is unconscious or unable to communicate. "This new registry marks a significant innovation and added protection for Vermonters," said John Campbell, executive director of the Vermont Ethics Network. "It provides the peace of mind and security of knowing that their wishes, exactly as expressed in the advance directive, can be available immediately in a medical emergency or critical care situation.Publish

Source: Emax Health News, http://www.emaxhealth.com/24/9447.html

If this registry allows for access by all healthcare providers and the ability to locate the attorney-in-fact, then I would say this is something Indiana ought to look into. I assume that it is digital. Doesn't make much sense if it is not.

Health Care Powers of Attorney - Why You Need One

A recent case brought close to home the importance of having a power of attorney. An adult has a stroke and the wife cannot pay the bills because all of his income is in a bank account in his name only. Having had a stroke, I had to file for guardianship. I charge $150.00 for a power of attorney with a health care provision and a living will, but a guardianship starts at about eight times that much. So much money and stress could have been avoided if the husband had had the proper documents!

Why did he not have the proper documents? Because he never thought that he would need them. A power of attorney appoints a person to act for you as if they were you to take care of your business. A healthcare power of attorney appoints a person to act for you in taking care of your health issues. A living will tells a healthcare provider (your doctor and/or hospital) that you do or do not want to receive life support.

I have a Top Three Reasons of Why You Do Not Need a Power of Attorney. I can tell you that if you answer "NO" to any two of the following, you need a power of attorney and a living will:

3. You have a power of attorney and living will.
2. You will never be incapable of making decisions about your business or health care.
1. You want to receive medical treatment if you are incapacitated regardless of the costs.