Massachusetts Estate Planning and Elder Law

Traveling Without The Kids This Summer?

Are you taking a vacation without your children this summer, even a weekend away? Make sure you have the proper documents in place so that whoever is caring for your children has the authority to obtain medical care for them in an emergency. Also, make sure that you leave detailed instructions about their medical history, allergies, and medications and how to reach their current doctor. 

If your over-18 children will be traveling without you, make sure they have a Health Care Proxy signed so someone can make medical decisions for them if they are unable.  While they may still be your baby, if they are over 18 your right to make decisions for them, or even get an update on their medical condition, will be limited without the proper authorizations in place. 

The more prepared you are before you leave, the less you have to worry about on your trip. Just don't forget the sunscreen! 

New Medical Students Learning to Care for Aging Patients

The Boston Globe has an article today about medical schools focusing on the care of the elderly.   Some of the course work includes a focus on hip fractures, drug costs, and discussing end of life issues with their patients. 

The new emphasis on aging is part of a wave of change sweeping medical schools nationwide as they focus - many for the first time - on preparing all newly minted doctors to treat the growing population of older Americans. Although students have traditionally trained in hospitals filled with older patients, many graduated with little knowledge of how elderly patients' bodies and minds differ from younger ones.

Now, medical schools are increasingly teaching students in settings that include senior centers and nursing homes. They are incorporating lessons on aging in basic coursework. And many are testing students on their skill in treating older patients before they are allowed to graduate.

"This work is crucial to the well-being of older people and the well-being of healthcare in the United States," said Dr. Richard Besdine, director of the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, who is leading a curriculum overhaul at Brown. "Every physician in the United States needs to be educated about care of older people unless they're going to do lifetime pediatrics."

It will be interesting to see if the new emphasis on caring for the aged will lead to a resurgence of doctors who make home visits (and not just to the nursing home or assisted living facility.)  As more people choose to age in place, with supports from family, paid care-givers and companions, the need for doctors who make home visits will increase.  Just as you can't have an elder law practice without making home visits to those clients who need them, a doctor  will have a hard time calling herself a geriatrition if she isn't willing to do the same thing for her patients.    

Stories of Harm - Health Care Quality Videos

My friend and former colleague Nicola Truppin of Health Navigator Partners sent me the link to the Health Care for All blog which has a recent post about people who were harmed while getting medical treatment at prominent Boston hospitals, either through misdiagnoses, medical errors or preventable infections.  There are 3 videos - each 3 minutes long - in which each woman describes what happened to her.  Click here to see the videos and read the post. 

The goal behind these videos and the work being done by Health Care for All's  Consumer Health Quality Council is to bring awareness to the problem and advocate for quality improvement and patient safety in health care.