Coma and Lamar

Lamar Odom remains in a coma in Las Vegas after being found unconscious in a Nevada brothel after going on a weekend bender with cocaine and herbal viagra. His estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, is reportedly making his medical decisions for him even though they separated two years ago and signed their divorce papers in July.  Los Angeles divorce courts have a four month backlog of divorce cases.

Several quick points:

1.  When individuals separate, they should implement new estate planning documents including health care powers of attorney.  During a divorce, the estranged spouse will be better off financially if the other spouse dies prior to the divorce finalization so it is best not to have the spouse in charge of one's medical decisions.

2.  That said, new estate planning documents are usually not a priority for a guy who was allegedly recently found on skid row.

3.  Odom's mom died when he was a teenager, his father was a heroin addict, and he had an infant die of SIDS.  When the Kardashian family was his oasis of normalcy, the man never had a chance.

Thanks to Kathy Chabot for the post topic suggestion.

No More Scooby Snacks. Or Water.

The bizarre and emotional battle over the medical care of Casey Kasem is nearing an end.  An LA County judge has authorized his daughter to have doctors withdraw his feeding tubes.  The ruling follows Kasem's wishes as expressed in his 2007 living will.  The ruling also adheres to his health care power of attorney which gave his daughter authority over his medical decisions (and not his wife).  Jean Kasem, an actress known for  playing dumb blonde roles, maintains that the daughter is sentencing him to death because she wants his money.

Several points:

1.  Usually a living will and health care power of attorney will avoid this acrimonious situation.

2.  It is too bad that the public has had to view the reason Kasem trusted his daughter with his medical decisions and not his wife.

3.  Like Kasem, I would not want someone who throws meat at others when angry in charge of my medical decisions.

Six Things to Do Before Dying

It is Estate Planning Awareness Week although every week is estate planning awareness week on this blog.  As part of that week, Forbes listed 6 things everyone should do before she dies.

1.  Make a will and/or trust.

2.  Make a living will and power of attorney.

3.  Review beneficiary designations for insurance policies and retirement plans.

4.  Make a bucket list,

5.  Find something good in every day.

6.  Tell friends and family you love them.

Of course, from my professional point of view, 1 and 2 are the most important.  When clients do that, my  list in 4 becomes attainable and 5 and 6 become easier.      

There Are Better Living Will Options

I am not sure if this photo is legitimate,but it seems that a man had his living will and organ donation wishes tattooed on his arm.  That should remove any ambiguity about his wishes, although a standard living will on paper with verbal instructions to his relatives, and checking the organ donation box on a drivers license would be far less intrusive.  Those documents would also preserve skin space for tattooing his girl friend's name and current favorite band.