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Selecting a nursing home for a loved one is one of the most important and difficult decisions that you may be asked to make. This decision is usually made during a time of crisis, frequently when a family member is ready to leave the hospital after a serious illness or operation. It would be easier on everyone if this decision could be planned for. However this is usually not the case. Just remember, be nice to your kids… they are going to pick out your nursing home.
The first issue to decide is whether a nursing home is necessary. Would some type of home services be adequate? This issue should be discussed with your health care providers. There are many types of services available for people who choose to remain at home, such as home health care, adult day care centers, respite care and hospice in-home care.
Once it has been determined that an individual needs care in a nursing home you should allow that person, if they are able, to be a part of the process of selecting a facility. Ask professionals in the field, friends or acquaintances who have been in a similar situation for information. The Connecticut State Agency on Aging has an Ombudsman program that can provide information on particular nursing homes, however you should also visit different homes to see what they are like. Talk to staff members, other residents and their families. You should visit each home more than once and at different times of the day. Ask if they have activities for the residents. Ask to see menus for daily meals. Also, ask what the costs are at each home. Another thing you may want to do is to just walk around the home and observe the condition of the facility and the residents.
Nursing homes have their own doctors. You should find out about the doctors, their credentials, how often they visit and if they are willing to meet with the family to discuss plans for treatment.
Federal law requires that residents have the right to be free from restraints administered for the purpose of discipline or convenience and not required to treat medical conditions. If you see residents in restraints, you should question the facilities staff about the nursing home’s policy on restraints.
Be sure to visit more than one nursing home before you decide. You can be on a waiting list at many homes and then choose the home you want. A little advanced planning can save you from having to make a quick decision when you are forced to find a nursing home in an emergency.
“You know, the only people that are grateful when someone’s dead is the recipient of life insurance, man.”
-Phillip Morrow, Pan America Insurance, Salesman of the year
Okay, this cracked me up, but it also made me think. “My name is Marc and I am a Dead Head who believes in the power of life insurance!” Hi Marc! I know many people both inside and outside of the Grateful Dead community who like to live in the moment and not think too much (or at all) about the future. Don’t get me wrong, it is completely alright to live in the moment. Ram Dass put it like this: “Remember, Be here Now.” While it is critical for everbody’s mental health to do a decent amount of living in the moment, it is equally important to take some mental trips into the future and to make some plans for that future. It’s like doing future you a favor- you dig? I have seen the power of a good, properly placed life insurance policy. The next time your taking a mental trip to the future- think about what life insurance could do for you and your family. After all according to Mr. Morrow, after you purchase a life insurance policy “Your going to be so free man…You’re going to be like flying.”
I mean really! Why shell out the big bucks for a law degreewhen you just plan on ripping people off. There is a name for people like this: criminals…. From Today’s New Haven Register:
Attorney accused of using dead aunt’s ATM card:
NEW BRITAIN (AP) — A Vernon attorney is facing charges of forgery, larceny and theft and other charges after police say she withdrew money from her dead aunt’s checking account and used her debit card at Kmart, Target and Toys “R” Us.
Thirty-three-year-old Heather Kaufman’ aunt died in December. According to court documents, Kaufman allegedly used her aunt’s debit card days to make cash withdrawals and shop. They say she also wrote a $1,000 check to her boyfriend.
Court documents show that Kaufman told police that the check and cash withdrawals were to help defray funeral expenses. She says the purchases were for presents for family members that the aunt would have wanted them to have.
A relative assigned by a probate judge to handle the estate told police that more then $3,000 was missing.
From Tuesday’s New Haven Register:
Man trying to shoot off tree limb arrested
NORTH HAVEN — A man who allegedly used a shotgun to try to get rid of a tree limb in his backyard has been arrested.
Antonio Chiaia, 74, of 9 Cricket Court, was arrested at his home Saturday morning after a neighbor reported he was discharging a shotgun in his yard, Capt. James Merrithew said.
Chiaia told police he could not reach the tree limb with a saw, so he was trying to remove it by shooting at it. The branch is still there, Merrithew said.
The gun, a double-barrel 12-gauge, was seized, and Chiaia was charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm and second-degree reckless endangerment. He is scheduled to appear July 16 in Superior Court in Meriden.
In my day to day practice, I see one issue come up often: Outdated Estate Planning Documents. Even though these documents are often drafted with skill and plan for events that will not happen for years, they are in need of some serious updating. Some clients wait twenty or thirty years between updating their wills, trusts and other documents. A lot can change in twenty years. Geez, a lot can change in a year, or a moment for that matter.
A Will that is out of date may not be any better than having no Will at all. That Will that was executed twenty years ago probably needs to be updated; people have been born, some have died, some grew up to be great people, others grew up to be not such great people. There have been divorces, remarriages. All of these things change the way people plan their estates.
Your estate plan should be reviewed every few years, and more often after the happening of certain events. Your plan should be reviewed upon birth, death and adoption of a child, a marriage or divorce, tax changes, the death of someone named in your current Will/Trust, changes in income/wealth, and any other major life change. Consider giving yourself an annual estate planning checkup. Once a year take out your estate planning documents, and your life insurance policies and other important documents and read through them. Make sure that your plan conforms to your wishes, if they don’t, do what is necessary to make the changes you desire. Check your beneficiary designations on your life insurance policies- are they correct? Make sure that the proper people are listed as beneficiaries. Often, ex-husbands and ex-wives are listed as beneficiaries of life insurance policies because they were never removed after a divorce.
Be sure to also check your Power of Attorney- make sure you have the right person in place to be your agent should you become incapacitated. Also, check your Living Will to ensure that it conforms to your wishes and that your agent under the Living Will is the right person. When looking over your Power of Attorney and Living Will make sure that the documents have a HIPPA authorization. A HIPPA authorization permits your agent(s) to get medical information from your doctor. Without a HIPPA authorization on these documents it will be difficult, if not impossible to get vital information from your doctor, which is often necessary to make well informed decisions.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure- give yourself an estate planning checkup today!
This article appeared in the NY Times on March 4, 2009. Enjoy!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/business/04dead.html
If you have an IRA you should read this book. If you have a 401(k) you should convert it to an IRA and then read this book. Ed Slott, America’s IRA expert, details techniques that everyday people can employ to turn even a modest IRA into an intergenerational windfall. True genius is the ability to take difficult subject matter and put it into words that everybody can understand- Ed Slott is a true genius! Mr.Slott, a CPA and tax advisor, explains how people can stretch their IRA’s over their lives and the lives of their children (and even grandchildren) all the while accruing interest and deferring taxes. If you have an IRA, you cannot afford not to read this book!
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