The Terri Schiavo Case:
How to prevent conflicts about medical care in your family

No matter what your personal opinions about the controversy surrounding the Terri Schiavo case, there is one clear lesson to be learned: You must take steps to ensure that your wishes will be honored if you become medically incapacitated. Ms. Schiavo did not have a living will. The lack of this important document left the question of her desire, or lack thereof, for life sustaining measures open for debate. This debate has raged for over 15 years, as her husband and her parents (and then congress and President Bush) have battled over what each feels she would have wanted.

State Your Wishes, Avoid the Debate:
Make your wishes known by completing the necessary health care directives. You can complete your living will, health care power of attorney, and other health care directives on your own or with the valuable assistance of an estate planning professional. If you would like the name of an estate planning professional in your area, please call us at 866-362-8226.

Make Sure Your Living Will Is Available:
Make sure that your living will and other health care directives will be available when they are needed. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that, in 3 out of 4 cases, these documents were not available at the hospital when they were needed. You must make sure that your directives will be there to speak for you when you cannot speak for yourself.

Enroll In DocuBank:
Each DocuBank member carries a wallet card that instructs hospitals to call 800-DOCUBANK any day, any time, anywhere in the world to have their directives promptly faxed to them. A DocuBank representative follows up on each request for documents, ensuring that ll pages of the directives have been received and placed in the patient's chart. For just $45 per person for a one-year initial enrollment or $145 per person for a five-year enrollment, DocuBank makes your wishes known.

Name Emergency Contacts:
Identify friends and/or family who are nearby and can assist in locating your health care agent in an emergency. DocuBank stores the names and phone numbers of three emergency contacts and a primary care physician and includes these names and contact numbers whenever members' directives are faxed to a hospital. The name and phone numbers of the member's primary contact are also displayed on the front of the DocuBank card so that hospitals can reach them immediately in an emergency.