Terri Schiavo case highlights the importance of having accessible healthcare documents.
While the Terri Schiavo case has brought much attention to the need to the need for planning for lifetime health acre decisions, the sad fact is that in three out of four cases health care documents are not available when needed (based on a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association).
Many people believe that completion of health care documents and putting them in their safe deposit box, home safe, filing cabinet or even leaving it with the attorney that prepared them will assure that their health care wishes will be followed. In fact, the truth is that even when the health care documents have been shared with the primary care physician, fewer than half of these documents make it to the hospital in a health emergency situation.
Decisions regarding life prolonging care may arise unexpectedly and suddenly – this makes it essential for your Advance Health Care Directive and HIPAA Authorization Form to be available whenever and wherever they are needed. What is really critical to assuring that your wishes are honored is to get the documents quickly into the hands of the treating doctors and other hospital staff.
To assure this easy access, Sandoval Legacy Group, A Professional Law Corporation provides all its clients that have purchased a comprehensive estate plan with a complimentary three year membership to DocuBank, one of the nation’s oldest and largest emergency health care information access service companies.
DocuBank provides the clients of Sandoval Legacy Group, A Professional Law Corporation, with a wallet sized plastic information card with critical health care information on it. The card has a twenty-four hour toll free number that the hospital can dial, and within minutes of supplying information, a copy of all of the client’s health care documents are being faxed to the hospital’s fax number.
For more information on DocuBank, click here. For more information on California Advance Health Care Directives and HIPAA Authorization Forms, request our FREE brochure entitled “It’s Your Life, You Should Have The Final Say,”. Contact us online or call us at 951-787-7711 to obtain this brochure.
