Transcript of “Rights
Here, Rights Now” – Advance Directives with Dana Traynum
Produced by the
disAbility Law Center of
Virginia.
[INTRO]: The information provided on this
podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Instead, all
information, content and materials available are for general informational
purposes only.
[Enter host, Suzanne Herbst.]
[Suzanne
Herbst]: Welcome to Rights Here, Rights Now! A
podcast about disability advocacy, and activism. I'm your Advocate host, Suzanne Herbst.
[Enter host, Virginia Pharis]
[Virginia Pharis]: And I'm your Advocate host, Virginia Pharis.
[Suzanne
Herbst]: Every two weeks we dig into to relevant
issues, current events, and avenues for self-advocacy.
[Virginia Pharis]: ‘Cause someone has to.
[Suzanne Herbst]: And it might as well be us!
[Virginia Pharis]:
*This podcast is produced and edited by the
disAbility Law Center of Virginia, the Commonwealth’s protection and advocacy
agency for disability rights.*
[Enter, Virginia
Pharis & Suzanne Herbst, once again]:
[Suzanne]: Today on the podcast we have the
delightful Dana Traynham. One of our
senior staff attorneys here at disability Law Center of VA, & she is going to be talking to us
all about advance directives!
[Virginia]:
Yes. You all have been clamoring for it, we promised it,
and now we're
finally making good on it! It's advance directive day, baby!
[Suzanne]: But before we jump in, let’s check out Disability
in the News!
Disability
Rights Florida, the NAACP, and five students and their families in Palm Beach Florida sued the public school
system there last week over their practice of forcing students with
disabilities to undergo mental health exams at psych facilities. School
employees including school police officers regularly seized children for
involuntary examinations in psych facilities after displaying misconduct that
often stemmed from their disabilities. The school district claimed use of the
Baker Act, which gives police, judges, and mental health professionals the
power to require people to undergo mental health exams if they appear to be
suffering from a mental illness and there is a likelihood that they could cause
serious harm to themselves or others. Often times professionals utilized this
act to commit these students with disabilities, though they often times did not
meet any of the Act’s criteria. Between 2016 an 2020 the school district
involuntarily committed 1217 students, including 254 elementary school
students. The lawsuit is ongoing but those filing the suit are calling for the
families to be financially compensated
and the school district to halt any illegal use of the Baker Act and for more
appropriate training for staff.
[Enter, one more time, our honored
guest, Dana Traynham]
[Suzanne]: All
right- we are joined [here] once again, by the lovely Dana Trayham! Are you a Senior
Staff Attorney??
[Dana]: Yes.
But it doesn't mean I’m old.
[Suzanne]: Ok,
all right, yes- You don't get any
[Senior] discounts. J
[Virginia]: I
was gonna say, if Dana’s NOT a Senior Staff, and (she is!), then, I
don’t know who we have…who IS a Senior Staff Attorney?
[Suzanne]: Who
else would be? Dana for some reason has returned to speak with his once again,
in what I like to think of as the finale of our [Advance Directive] “Trilogy”
Where
we began with looking over the free Britney movement. And then, we talked about
the film, I Care a Lot and now here we are talking about some
alternatives to the things you saw there.
[Virginia]: It
really is the Return of the King, of the advance directives! [LOL!]
[Dana]: Yeah. It’s
the Return of the QUEEN!
[Virginia]: Yes,
the…the Return of the Queen. The queen is Dana. J
[Dana]: Yes,
I am a Queen. And I am glad we’re here to talk about how to avoid avoid
being in Britney's shoes or in the character shoes in, I care a lot because I
think that's a great way to end the trilogy. I would NEVER WANT MY LIFE to ever
become a Netflix movie.
[Suzanne]: That’s
true. I feel like feel like a lot of those aren't, like, “Let me tell you about
how amazing my life was- Everything went great.” It’s always a tragedy based
thing. [Laughter.] But, let's go ahead, and dig into the meat of this episode.
SO, Dana, for our eagle-eyed listeners-- they may have noticed this is
titled advance directives. And, that's the way the other one of the ways you
can sort of avoid the situations that we've talked about in the previous two
episodes. So: What is an advance directive?
[Dana]:
An advance directive is… is a
document, or, I think of it, as a tool that we can use to plan for the future. Or,
any time that we may become incapacitated because of illness or injury—And, by
incapacitated, I mean unable to make our own decisions. Unable, because we you
know either we lived to the ripe old age of a hundred and three and then get
Dementia. Or, we are in a bad car accident and we have a traumatic brain injury,
that leaves us either temporarily or permanently with a brain injury….[..] Or,
the effects of the brain injury, I should say, or unable to make her own
decisions and at any time right that could happen to any of us at any time and
so nobody likes to think about that and may say things like, “Well, I'm young,
you know, I don't have to worry about that right now.” Or, you know, “I'm
healthy I don't have to worry about that right now.” And, you have not planned
for future incapacity. It's not too early to plan. You know… [..] we might be…
(in a situation) where, our life ends up in court, before a judge, and that
judge then appoints someone to make our decisions for us. Who may not be the
person you want!! [So] There's a long-winded answer to your question.
[Virginia]: So,
let's break this down step-by-step: A lot of the stuff you're talking about,
sounds like some other formats of support decision-making that we've already
touched on. Very briefly. How is an advance directive different from a power of
attorney? Or, is it different from a
power of attorney?
[Dana]: You’re right, Virginia. There are a
lot of words that we used interchangeably, um. But, they actually do have different meetings. So by
advance directive, I mean: If I were doing this in person, I'd be doing the interpretive dance of an umbrella!
[LOL!] So, just imagine, Dana doing an interpretive dance of an umbrella. J An advance directive is a general term for this advance planning
that I just talked about. Under that umbrella, are different portions of that
advanced plan. So, you mention power of attorney- that is a part of an advance
directive. With the power of attorney, I can choose who makes decisions for me
in the future when an incapacitated and cannot do so for myself. So I may say
I'm going to make my own decisions [when] I have capacity… until I don't. And
when I don't have capacity, anymore and somebody else needs to step in and make
decisions for me, then, I want Hannah to be that person. And I can take it a
step further and say, if Hannah is not available, or willing, or able, maybe
because, say, she was in the same car
accident as me, then, I [can] choose Virginia to do that. And then, you
know, [say if] Virginia is not available, then I pick Suzanne. Okay? So, that's a power of attorney.
I can choose who steps in and makes
decisions for me? Who is my voice at a time when I'm not able to be
myself? Other parts of an advance directive, other things that fall under that
umbrella, include a medical directive.
Under medical directive, I can put in writing decisions I'm making now, for the
future, about any type of my medical decisions. I can say: What doctors I want
to work with, or don't want to work with; which hospital that I want to go to,
or don't want to go to, medications that I give consent for right now, or,
medications that I refuse. I can write what works for me in a crisis situation.
How can you support me during a crisis? How do I feel, about things like:
chemotherapy, dialysis, electric shock, [therapy] CT (scans)? Anything that's
important to me in medical care I can put it in writing now, that's called a
medical directive.
So: so
far, under the umbrella, we have power of attorney medical directive and,
there’s another one that’s what’s called…a living will. And, in a living will,
I can put, basically, the two choices are in very general terms: whether I want
life support, at the end of my life, to keep me going, and, to keep me alive as
long as possible? Or, do I want to be kept comfortable, but not, artificially, kept alive, by machines? That's
called a living will. You can also put, in your advance directive, your choices,
and decisions, about organ donation. We have many ways in Virginia to
indicate that we want to be organ donors. An advance directive is one of
them. And finally, with an A.D., you can have a Ulysses Claus- Which says
that: [I think we talked about the U Clause in another podcast…but I’ll go
over it a little bit here] in the U. clause, it says: “If I no longer have
the capacity to make my own decisions, then when the person I’ve chosen to make
my decisions for me—in this case, Hannah—would
be able to make decisions, even at my objection.” Because, the thought behind that, is: Right now, I have to pass
this on, to somebody. And, I'm able to say: This is how I want to be treated.
and if I get to a future time when I don't have capacity, then I don’t want to
go back on that! I want to go with the decision I made when I was doing well,
and stable, in my past. That’s the reasoning behind the Ulysses Claus.
So all of those parts make up an advance directive. Now that’s healthcare. I
could do the same thing with financial, I could do a power of attorney for
financial care, I can even make financial decisions for education. I can make
financial decisions if…if I am still in secondary school. And I have an IEP, for
special education. I can have a power of attorney, if I am between the ages of
18 and graduating. And if I want to give my parents the same rights that they
had before I turned eighteen, I can even do an educational power of attorney.
All of those things are what I can do to plan for the future I could protect my
health care decisions I can protect my financial decisions and I can protect my
education. So all of those things are things I can do to plan for the future. I
can protect my healthcare decisions, financial decisions, […] etc.
[Suzanne]:
One thing we've talked about a lot in our last episodes together his
guardianship. So, tell me about how an advanced directive is different than
guardianship.
[Dana]: It is night and day. Pretty much,
for guardianship. Let’s first start with a similarity. Let’s get that out of
the way. A similarity
is:
Whether you have a guardianship, or, --you're under a-- you have a power of
attorney, and, you do not have capacity someone
else is making decisions for you. And, that's going to happen, right? If I
am in the hospital, and I cannot make a decision, or, communicate my decision,
someone's going to have to make decisions for me. The decision has to be given
for medical care. If I have a guardian, that person will be doing it. If I have
an advance directive, then, the person I chose will be making those decisions
for me. Whether it's my first, second, or third, choice, right? That person is
making decisions for me. If I don't have any of those things, then, we can talk
about that later. But, there is a mechanism in the law for that, as well. But,
the fact of the matter is, if I don't have capacity somebody is so that's
guardian or power of person and a power of attorney so that's pretty much the
only similarity here are the differences in a power of attorney. [For instance]In
a power of attorney, I choose who that person or persons were going to be he
was going to be making decisions for me I hold the power for that I make I
decide who's going to make it I can decide what decisions they can and cannot
make for me and I can also fire that person in the future if I have capacity I
can decide you know let's make it a happy story: Hannah goes to live in Africa
and run Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, right? Then I don't want her to be my
guardian- she can't be reached- so, and, Virginia and I just don't get along,
as well as we have been the past. And Suzanne's now my best friend, so I want
Suzanne to be my number one…-
[Suzanne]: Everything’s
coming up Suzanne! J [LOL!]
[Dana]: That's
right- I handled it pretty well, didn't I? [S: Yes, you did!] So, anyway I can
make changes to my power of attorney anytime. I don't have to get anybody
else's approval, I don't have to go to court, and probably, the most important
thing is, I don't have to include a lawyer. And even the lawyers will tell you
(and say), that keeping lawyers out of your life is usually a good thing! So,
the same thing when I write the power of attorney. To start with, I don't have to
have an attorney to write it. I don't have to go to court, to have them okay
it, so I'm I hold all the power, right? In the in the advance directive, when I
go to court, and someone wants to be my guardian, because, when I remove
Virginia as number two, as my power of attorney, she (then) decided she want to
go to court. Because [she’s] my guardian,
if that were to happen, I lose all control. So that's the biggest
difference is that when I use an advance directive in any of those, in any of the parts and pieces, I can do
every part I mentioned, OR, I could do just the power of attorney it's kind of an
a la carte system- I can choose what I want, to use what works for me. I have
the power- if I go to court, and, a guardian is appointed, I have no power. We
saw that in the Brittany Case, we saw that in I Care a Lot, once a guardian is appointed pretty much all my
power, and, my power over my own life, is gone. So like I said, they are night
and day.
[Virginia]: Okay,
so Dana I'm on board! You’ve sold me. You did slander my character to get back
into to Suzanne’s good graces, but I will forgive it. J So, you know, I'm ready to put
together an advance directive: Who
can who can make an advance directive? First of all, like, who is eligible to actually make the document? And technically, who can
they get to help them?
[Dana]: Anybody
over the age of 18 that is in Virginia, that is presumed to have capacity and
that's the only requirement for who can do an advance directive. So, that means,
anybody under the age of 18 cannot do one. And, anybody who already has a
guardian appointed cannot do one. Because they've already been deemed to not
have capacity. Other adults can do an advanced directive, and I mean, any, it's regardless of disability. I
can do whatever anybody can do. [For] (filling out) an advance directive, there
is a wonderful website you go to dlcv. Org and search for supported
decision-making, under resources videos, and, fact sheets. And, the thing I'm
most excited about there are some ‘do-it-yourself,’ forms, with line by line instructions. We have one for just the power of attorney,
because that's what, you know, the majority of people use- is the power of
attorney. So we have one that's for that. And then, we have one that's for all the entire advance directives,
all those pieces and parts, that we talked about, and, put under the umbrella.
And there are line-by-line instructions that’ll walk you through the process. And
tell you how to fill in the lines. And, if you need more assistance than that,
you can call our office, Dlcv, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and speak to our
intake specialist, and you can either get more information from a subject
matter expert on this particular topic, or we also have a project in place this
year to help folks, if they cannot fill that out for themselves. So, we may be
able to help you in that way. We also, in Virginia, have trained peer facilitators for folks in the mental
health community,
[Virginia]:
You
can go to it, it is virginiaadvancedirective.org
[Dana]:
There,
you will be able to see if your area has any trained facilitators. Also, when I
was filling out mine years ago, I had some questions about how I felt about
some of the things a living will. Particularly about artificial feeding, that
sort of thing, when you're at the end of your life. And I went to my local
hospital, I wasn’t a patient there at the time, and the doc was able to talk
some things through with me. I was able to figure out, you know, what I want to
do, what decision I want to make, regarding that. They can talk to you about
that stuff. Your doctor can answer
questions, other folks (too), if your doctors, Healthcare Provider, Nurse
Practitioner, or nurse, through the community services board, or another
organization, they may be able to help you.
[Suzanne]: I
don't want to get too excited but I think I heard you say this earlier and from
this explanation you've just given us I think I have it right do I not need a
lawyer to make an advance directive?
[Dana]: [Correct!]
You do not need a lawyer to write an advance directive that is correct speaking
as a lawyer and I'm not putting down the layers but I hesitate to send folks
especially with developmental disabilities she will wear who doesn't have any
expertise in that area because their idea of capacity to do this document may
be very different from my idea of capacity.
[Dana]: And,
that’s I like about the phones on our website and yes I did create them. I tried to use English as much as
possible, and not the “lawyer English,” that people don't understand; I try to
make it as understandable as possible. There are some words that are just in
there because they kind of have to be, but, for the most part… I tried to write
it so that people would understand it. You know, we don't have to have advance
directives that [use words like] […] ‘whereas,’ or all of those words that make
a document cost more. If you're so inclined, and, Virginia doesn’t have, the
form that has to be used for magic words-- that have to be used—If so, you can
write it yourself. You can look at other forms and decide what you like and
don't like and pick and choose, which is kind of what I did, when I did mine. I
looked at a lot of different ones online, and, created from the different
lawyer.
[Virginia]:
I
understand not wanting to involve a lawyer; I think that's fantastic. But if I
don't have a voice, OR, if my advance directive doesn’t say ‘whereas’ at least
once, then: How is anyone supposed to know it's a legal document?
[Diana]: In
Virginia, there is only really one requirement
to make it a legal document and that is that is signed in the presence of two
witnesses. So, when I sign my power of attorney when I have it done the way
I want to have it done ,and I'm ready to sign- it I have to sign it in front of
two people. I say this isn't a requirement under the law, BUT, this is Dana's
advice: Is that, those two people not be
people that are named in the document. I always think that it's better that
everybody has one job. Because, if you start giving people more than one job as
an agent, and at the same time, at the
same time, okay,- So, I can't sign my document, and then tomorrow, go and
ask somebody to witness it! Okay, we have to be in the room at the same time.
And they have to be with us, together; So, the question I usually get at this
point is: what about a notary? [And], Virginia law does not require your
advance directive to be notarized! I do, however, recommend it. And, Virginia,
just like you said, whereas, when it has
a whereas at the beginning, especially when it’s in all caps-- I mean
whereas in all caps it's it's obviously a legal document right? Notarisation-
if it has a notary stamp on it, (then), boy it must be real right?!? [Legal.] It looks more
official- it looks more legal- the fact of the matter is it's not. But, it does
have that appearance, and sometimes, that helps with notoriety, when people
honor it without notoriety- you know that, other states out there do require
that it be notarized. So if I'm traveling to a state that requires it to be
notarized, and I should pick a state, that I know requires it, but, I don't
know where it is…so let's just say that I'm going to ‘anyware,’ ‘state of
anywhere,’ and they required it to be notarized and I'm vacationing there, in Anywhere
Beach, and I get injured, and I go to the hospital -and they have to use my advance directive- it's not notarized, but they
require it it's going to slow it down a little bit, because they will honor
it because it's legal in Virginia where I signed it the hospital Personnel
they're just used to looking after that notarization. [And], if it's not
there it's going to take them a little bit longer to figure out. But yes, we do
have to follow this so then I do recommend that, BUT, don’t let that slow you
down from actually doing it. Don't let that be the excuse that you haven't
signed it.
[Suzanne]: So, you mentioned the things that come under the umbrella of advanced directives.
But, what kind of things can you include in your advance directive that
might be a little bit more specific to your advance directive?
[Dana]: Let’s
break it down, and let’s talk about each of these things as [they’re] specific to
advance directives: So, in the power of attorney, when you're choosing someone to make
decisions for you- you can choose what decisions they can make, OR, decisions
they can't. So, if you're looking at any form including of my form on our web
page or if you buy one at Walmart, or Staples, or whatever, it will have a list
of things that your agent can make decisions about doing some things like
end-of-life care—
For example: They can [either] refuse or consent to
many types of Medical Care. [For instance], In end-of-life care it might
mention authority to decide visitors. And it goes on and on, and you can look
through those powers, and decide: Now, I don't want my agent….[…] to have
access to this. [Let’s look at] each one of those powers, & explain why
it's important. And what happens if you take that power away from your agent-
[ie] How will it affect the rest of your document. And so, you have to really
think about that. Because, if you removed some of those powers from your agent,
(then,) it makes your agent not able to really do his or her job! So, I do
recommend you, if you don't use my form, at least, look at that part of the
form where it talks about the powers of the agent. And what they mean, when
we're looking at a Medical Directive- ----that's [the] medical directive--
that's when you really get into the nitty-gritty and lots of options. In the
beginning, in the introduction, I talked about, you know, doctors, (and)
hospitals that I would not want to work with, if I'm in a crisis. And, they’re looking
at either putting me in seclusion or restraint, or giving me (you) a medication
to calm you down. What can they do, rather than those things? [So], when I'm
looking at seclusion and restraint, is there anything in my past that would
make that counterproductive? Do I have any experience in my past where
seclusion and restraint would actually make the situation better, --not that I think those things ever make the
situation better—But, if I have certain people I want to visit me, or not
visit me, when I'm hospitalized, I can put that in there. I can-- when I talk about a medical directive- But
I also want to be very clear, that medical includes: healthcare, (medical),
physical health care, as well as mental health care. [And], in Virginia, we
don't have what's called a psychiatric advance directives, exactly, - I THINK
were the first state in the nation- and,
Virginia I don't know if you know if we're still the only one?- We decided
on an integrated advance directive, rather than, having a psychiatric advance
directive totally separate from your health care, because, basically for most
of us are head is attached to our body and, so why have psychiatric care that
is only, a separate document from the document that talks about the rest of our
Healthcare. Here's the thing in a medical directive: (You) put anything in
there that is important to you when it comes to your health and well-being, even if you don't think it can be
followed. So, for instance, what if what really CALMS me down if I'm in a
crisis, and I'm really upset, and I may be in danger of hurting myself, or
somebody else- Well, maybe, for someone it's smoking marijuana, and hey, I can
put that in my document! It doesn't mean that they're going to give me
marijuana, BUT, it tells the medical professionals: Okay, this is something she
uses in this is something that is calms me down, maybe it’s…playing with my
rattlesnake, you know, I really, you know, …playing with my rattlesnake calms
me down and keeps me from hurting other people […] maybe they know, pet therapy
might work for me. Medical professionals (have that) information. [And], even
if it's not something that they can do for me, you think of your medical
directive as your voice.
Think about a time when you met with a doctor for
the first time all those questions they have free will if you're not able to
answer those questions let your medical director is be your voice in a
situation and give that doctor or those medical professionals as much
information as possible about you and what works for you. Because you're the
expert on your own body and your own health care. So, take that seriously!
[Virginia]: So,
take it to the psychiatric piece, a little bit, a lot of the work I do have to
do with those who are in Inpatient Hospital Settings, and, a lot of those folks
have issues with their medication, etc. And, some of them have even been to
court, ordered to take certain kinds of psychotropic medication that they don't
necessarily like. If somebody has an advanced directive and they use that to
guarantee that they are never going to be given say help, under any
circumstance?
[Dana]: No.
If there is any medication in that family, that say […], I do not give consent
to it. Now, in the future the doctor at that point can only give that
medication to me ,or that family member. They give medications to me, if
there's an emergency situation. And, that is the only medication that will work
in that emergency situation. Or, there is a court order. And, a court order will
trump the advance directive, however, and will know that that is my
preference that and I not take that drug. I do recommend when people say
that they refused to give consent to certain medication TO PUT why. Is it
the side effect? You know, and what side effect(s)? And, they may be at
a point where that is going to truly be the best medication for what's wrong with
[them]. And they can give me another medication to to deal with the
nausea part of it. So, I always put why you don't want them to take the
medication what side effect is it that you don't want to deal with? And
also if it hasn't worked for you in the past, you may want to make sure that
they know that—remember-- this person is speaking for you, when you can’t, and
a doctor is always going to ask you what what medications have you tried for
this in the past. and you know did they work for you, and all that.
[Suzanne]: We
talked a little bit about how Virginia can be different from other states in
the way that we structured our advance directives. And we talked about how you,
if you go to, ‘anywhere State,’ I think we mentioned that your advance
directive would still be honored there. How does that how does that work? If
you're if you're crossing state lines with an advance directive?
[Dana]: So,
other states will honor it, but …And here's the thing or something because
they're different laws other states may have different requirements so for
example friend of mine was going to have surgery in Georgia that's what the
specialist was she was going to go down there she already have an advance
directive for Virginia she had me look at Georgia law to see what was required
we went ahead and went ahead and Drew up another advance directive for her
following Georgia law the only reason we did that was just because their law
was so specific and would have required in the advance directive that we want
to just go ahead and meet all those requirements are there was no question
about whether they have to follow it wasn't he had to you know didn't have to
go to their lawyer didn't have to go through all those who we met all the
requirements for Georgia do for people who are just vacationing. You know you
don't have to do that you know every state you're going to a vacation to follow
it it just may be a little bit slower for them to realize that you know this is
kind of Virginia when you see and it wasn't valid when it was signed in
Virginia and the notary is the big one that's that's usually the difference
between Virginia, and, another state I'm in.
Now,
going to other countries I have no idea how this would work and you need emergency
treatment of some sort and they need someone to consent to that treatment very
very happy to see that they have a name phone number address the email to get
in touch with somebody regardless of what their law is really happy to know who
do I call for this person deal with law later but let's deal with the emergency
now
[Virginia]: Yeah.
So…in terms of letting somebody either domestic or abroad know about your
advance directives how can you do that how can you make it available to the
people who are going to need it? For both, I guess routinely and an emergency?
[Dana]: So,
how do I look for stuff Virginia has a free service for ADVANCE DIRECTIVES?
[Good Question!] Virginia you need to look up that website for me, please.
[Pause- Virginia looks up the website!]
[Dana]: I
should have it in my head and I just don't know! When you register your advance
directive with them they will send you a card that you carry with your
identification. And it says that you have an advanced directive and it says how
to get in get a copy of it or to see it showing you know nowadays the rescue
squad that comes to an emergency situation has a computer on board and they're
able to look it up and they can contact you or agent in your power of attorney
before you even make it to the hospital whenever they're ready to make
decisions and signed documents and all that sort of thing. It is [called]:
connect virginia.org. It's all spelled out connect virginia.org / I don’t know
if I’d pronounce that well enough. That stands for advance directive- Advance directive
registry, for people who carry purses, obviously; If you go to that website we
mentioned earlier an advance directive, [hard copy]. Or, they have a
wallet-size advance directive that you can carry with you. OR, another way that
you can let people know that you have an advance directive is a USB drive! And,
people I've seen them into different formats that looks like the medical alert
bracelet- you know, that snake thing on there, that shows that have medical
(info) and it snaps apart. And there's a USB drive that goes and it has put
your medical information. I've also seen those in a minute what looks like a
plastic credit card. And, I believe it or not even though it's flat you can
pull it out and there's a small thing you stick in the USB drive. And it’ll
have all that information on it. I've also seen people wear a lanyard around
their neck, and (with) the medical symbol, so people know you can put on an
index card. “I have an advance directive in case of emergency, call this
person.” and that's good enough- You can, in your smartphone—Is it still
called a smartphone??- unless you have a flip phone look for that that way you
can most phones, now, that app called i c e and that stands for in case of
emergency. And, you of the open up that app it'll how do you put beer on your
doctor's name your medical information and you can also upload your advance
directive into that app so those are always to let people know also once you've
done your advance directive you want to make sure that all of your doctors have
a copy and you can even register it with your local hospital or hospitals,
then, you don't have to wait to see a patient you just go to the registration,
and, you say, “I'd like to put my advance directive on file”. And this document
doesn’t work in secrecy! People have to know about it so you have to be to get
that out there you want your agent to have a copy of people like a case manager
or if it's an educational power of attorney family friends or anybody that you
want to know book this is what I want done if I'm ever in an emergency
situation while I never not able to make my own decisions you want people to
know this is what this is what I want happen whatever you do don't hide it
don't put it in your in your bedside table, don't stick it in your family bible,
don't put it in your safe deposit box,—okay-- You can put The Originals in
those places, that's fine, but you want to make sure people have copies, and as
you're making these copies, and, you're giving them out. You know, you want to
make sure you're keeping track of who gets because you're one of the changes in
the future you know when I say that I promote Suzanne I want you know everybody
to know that I made those changes.
[Suzanne]: So,
if you do want to make those changes how do you go about doing that or maybe
even if you have an advance directive, and want to get rid of it entirely??
[Dana]: So, you can result your Advanced Directive and by that, you just
do a written document- saying
that you revoke it. That's the safest way. I mean You could do that verbally but it's safer to do it in writing and
remember that
list of copies that you made you want to let everybody know the copies, but
let everybody know that it is revoked. By the way, that 1 way that most
people change their advance directive is just write a new one! So, that your
newest advance directive is the one that is valid. We want to let people know
that you've done that because if you don't let doctor a know that doctor a still
following your old one and maybe trying to reach Hannah who's now in
Africa and you know she can't get the phone call so you want to make sure people know
about
[Virginia]: We also have resources for those who are interested
in learning more if you go to our website
dlcv. Or, we have an entire support
decision-making for mentioned as well as just a gorgeous video series that Dana
[Traynum, herself!] starred in that is our, “Ask the Expert,” series on advance
directives!
[Virginia]: So, Dana as always it's been
real and it's been fun and it's been
real fun!
[Dana]: It’s
fun for me too I have to say that you guys are now
tapped out every single bit of
knowledge that
I have in my brain, so…
[Suzanne]:
I
don't know what to think of something and it might be a situation
where we just cultivated over time really think I could you look into this one top and then it a year will
be like you know Dana we know you know a lot about this one topic so [….] but
Dana hopefully we will see you and your chickens again in the very near future
thank you so much for coming and now a DLCVOral health, meaning care for
our teeth and gums, is a very important part of overall health and
well-being. dLCV is excited to let you know that Virginia Medicaid now
offers full dental benefits to its adult members! Adults with full
Medicaid benefits can now obtain
|
|
You first step in using your full dental benefits is to find
a dentist in your area that accepts Medicaid. You can do this by
calling Virginia Medicaid’s DentaQuest information line at
1-888-912-3456. That number again is 1-888-912-3456. Call today to
make an appointment, and show us your smile!
highlight!
Oral
health, meaning care for our teeth and gums, is a very important part of
overall health and well-being. dLCV is
excited to let you know that Virginia Medicaid now offers full dental benefits
to its adult members! Adults with full
Medicaid benefits can now obtain
• Cleanings and Preventive Care
• X-Rays and Exams
• Fillings
• Dentures • Root Canals
• Gum-Related Treatment
• Oral Surgeries
• And More!
You
first step in using your full dental benefits is to find a dentist in your area
that accepts Medicaid. You can do this by calling Virginia
Medicaid’s DentaQuest information line at 1-888-912-3456. That number again is 1-888-912-3456. Call today to make an appointment, and show
us your smile!
[Virginia]: Thank you
once again that to Dana Traynham senior staff attorney KNOWER of all things for
just giving us the once-over on advance directives so much do and think about
when it comes to advance directives they are one of my favorite things that we
do a deal CV they were my, (sort of) gateway drug into disability rights! So, if anybody's interested, again, I
highly recommend going on our website and learning more or making one yourself!
[Suzanne]: Absolutely! and we are especially grateful
to Dana for joining us once again I'm sure she's sick of us but will never be
sick of her. And thank you ALL, for listening to this episode of Rights here
right now brought to you by the disability Law Center of Virginia or available
on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Don't forget to
subscribe and leave a review!
[Virginia]: If you need assistance or
want more information about DLC be in what we do, visit us online
at the LCD. Org.
[Suzanne]:
Follow us on Twitter, @disability
law VA, and share us with your friends!
[Virginia]: Until
next time, I'm Virginia Pharis.
[Suzanne]: And I’m Suzanne Herbst! And this
has been, Rights Here,
[Virginia]: Rights Now!
**End of Transcriptions**