 
E-zine - Advance
Directives-Antivirus Software Tips
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Contents
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Quote Of The Month
Who Decides Your Life and Death Decisions? (You Do!)
Sneaky Virus Making The Rounds -Alert Notice with IDentity
Theft Update 11/21/03
Parting Shots
Subscriber Feedback Forum -Enhance your Professional
Image
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Quote of the Month
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"Prudent people are very happy; 'tis an exceeding
fine
thing, that's certain, but I was born without it, and
shall retain to my day of Death the Humour of saying what
I think."
-Mary Wortley Montagu,
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Who Decides Your Life and Death Decisions? (You
Do!
If you have done the paperwork...)
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This week many communities will be discussing “who
decides?” regarding life and death decisions of an
incapacitated family member. This topic has gained
notoriety recently when a Florida family’s
disagreement
around end-of-life issues was further complicated by
legislative intervention. How do we respond to persons in
a permanent vegetative state? An illustration of how this
can affect you follows with resource links for a free
advance directive is at the bottom. This article and
associated links may be something you want to post on
your
benefit page for employees.
What does Harry want?
Nobody asked. Harry never said. Suddenly it was too late.
Harry is a 46 year old husband and father of three. A
responsible man, he pays his mortgage, taxes, and
tuition.
He has a will and insurance - life, disability, auto, and
health. If anything happened, Harry had provided for his
family.
Returning from work one entirely typical evening, Harry
was involved in a serious accident and quickly lapsed
into
coma. From on-scene paramedics to intensive care nurses
to
neurologists and neurosurgeons at the Trauma Center,
Harry’s medical care was faultless. But now, several
weeks
later, he remains stubbornly in coma with severe brain
damage, requiring intensive life support, and with no end
in sight.
Vanessa, Harry’s wife, had always felt lucky in her
marriage. Her mother-in-law became a friend and adores
the
children. Vanessa genuinely liked and respected
Harry’s
brother and his wife, and while not so close
geographically or emotionally, she valued their
friendship.
Vanessa was first asked if Harry had an advance directive
or living will in the Emergency Room on the day of the
accident. She did not believe he had one. Later, she
looked through their important papers and called the
lawyer who drew up their wills. She confirmed that Harry
had not committed to paper his own wishes for medical
care
nor a delegation of authority to someone to make medical
decisions on his behalf.
Vanessa understandably thinks that she knows Harry best,
and that he would not want prolonged life support with
all
its indignities, the protracted nursing home stay that
would bankrupt her and their children, and at best lead
to
a Harry who might be awake but never the husband and
father she loves.
Harry’s mother and brother insist that Harry is
a “fighter;” that despite the doctors’
assessment, he could
wake up and be close to his old self. They believe Harry
wants that chance.
As doctors, nurses, social workers and others continue to
ask for guidance, the family’s differing views only
harden
and their discussions become more painful and more
pointless. Vanessa knows as do her in-laws that a rift
has
developed that will never close whatever the outcome.
Vanessa knows that her sincerely held belief in
“what Harry
wants” must seem selfish to her in-laws, and she
cannot
help but feel guilty. Harry’s mother and brother
know the
burden their belief in “what Harry wants” puts
on Vanessa,
and while pledging help, feel guilty too.
What does Harry want? Nobody knows and nobody ever will.
“Advance directive” is an umbrella term for a
document that
guides medical care in the event a person cannot speak
for
himself or herself. Like a will, it must be properly
executed when a person is of “sound mind.”
Unlike a will,
it is seldom “probated.” Instead, it provides
guidance to
medical professionals and family members. To give
effective guidance, it must be reasonably up-to-date and
easily accessible in a timely way to medical
professionals
and family members who may be geographically separated.
Health Directives makes advance directives accessible
anytime, anywhere to those who need to know.
A Health Directives’ Subscriber receives 10 wallet
cards
bearing the Subscriber’s name, unique ID number, and
the
simple instructions necessary to access the
Subscriber’s
advance directive. Subscribers should keep an ID card
with
them and distribute cards to family members and others
who
may need to know. Subscribers should encourage family
members to read their advance directive so they are
familiar with its guidance.
Among legal documents, advance directives are rather
simple. Many people feel comfortable filling them out
themselves. Health Directives makes documents available
on-
line and off-line. All hospitals in the United States are
required to present the opportunity to patients to fill
out an advance directive. But some people are
uncomfortable unless their lawyer draws one up. Health
Directives will scan in to its database any advance
directive.
Health Directives’ subscription allows modification
to the
advance directive at any time by the Subscriber. As
advance directives age, the weight given to them by
medical professionals and family members diminishes, so
Health Directives is an annual subscription service.
Nobody knows what Harry wants, but your family can know
what you want.
Link for Free Advance Directive download
http://www.thebenefitnetwork.com/advancedirectives.htm
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Sneaky Virus
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This morning I received 5 emails that appeared to be from
Microsoft to one of my “unprotected” e-mail
addresses. I
have my ISP filter all my e-mail for virus and spam so I
normally wouldn’t even see this type of e-mail.
Three of
the e-mails were regarding security vulnerabilities in
Explorer and informed me that the associated fix was
attached. Since I know that Microsoft doesn’t send
attachments in e-mails, I was suspicious, but this e-mail
was very authentic looking. I was also concerned about
the return address as it was gibberish@msn.net, but I am
used to getting computer generated e-mail. Being a bit
more computer savvy than most, I clicked on an image to
see where the image was hosted and sure enough, it was
hosted at Microsoft. That accounts for the authentic
look,
but doesn’t mean that Microsoft sent it. The fact of
the
matter was that the attachment was a virus and the e-mail
was a hoax, not sent by Microsoft. Clicking on the
“fix”
would have infected my system. I point this out because I
am reasonably certain that this type of virus will trick
a
fair amount of unsuspecting users into “protecting
their
system” with a virus. The second tricky e-mail was
the “undeliverable” e-mail. Sort of a
“curiosity killed the
cat” type. The e-mail comes with a note ostensibly
from a
server apologizing for not being able to deliver the e-
mail you sent. If you think to yourself “I
didn’t send that
e-mail, what’s going on?” ,you may click on the
e-mail to
see what was sent. Naturally, that is all you needed to
do to
infect your system. If you suspect that you may have been
infected by either of these ruse’s you may want to
read up
on the virus since one of the attributes is that it
disables virus software. You may also want to get a free
system scan from the link below.
To Read:
Anti Virus
Software Tips
To Scan
Antivirus
Software
IDentity
Theft Update 11/21/03 - CLICK TO READ WARNING
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Suggested Reading
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Employee Benefit Plans in a Nutshell
Jay Conison New $23.50!
Employee Benefit Programs
Robert M. McCaffer...New Book!
The Handbook of Employee Benefits
Jerry S. Rosenbloom ..New $115.00!
Check Them Out Here;
http://www.thebenefitnetwork.com/reading1.htm
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Subscriber Feedback
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We are developing a new forum on supplemental insurance.
The objective is to allow all comments / questions on the
current edition of The Benefit Network or supplemental
insurance issues to be posted in a public forum. If you
are an expert and would like to enhance your professional
credentials, you may apply to be accepted as a posting
resource. If you have a question that you think the our
audience would be interested you may apply to post as
well. This is an experimental page and would be limited
to
a small number of users at first. Send and inquiry with a
little background on yourself to gain access. We may post
the page on the December edition.
To contact us with feedback, questions or praise, email
mailto:webmaster@thebenefitnetwork.com
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Pass it along -Forward These Tips to a Friend
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Getting this copy second hand? If you are an HR manager
or
insurance broker you can get your own copy each month for
free.
This ezine may be opt-in at:
http://www.thebenefitnetwork.com/news.html
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Parting Shots
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A lady walks into the drugstore and tells the pharmacist
she wants to buy some arsenic. He says "What do you
want
to do with arsenic?" She said "I want to kill
my husband
because he cheats on me with another woman." The
pharmacist replies: "I can't sell you arsenic so you
can
kill your husband, lady, even if he is cheating on
you!"
So she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a picture of
her husband with the pharmacist's wife.
"Oh, I didn't realize you had a prescription."
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General Info
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The Benefit Network Special Thanksgiving Edition ©
Copyright 2003,
The Benefit Network, except where indicated otherwise.
All rights reserved worldwide. Reprint only with
permission
from copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of
their
respective owners.
Please feel free to use excerpts from this newsletter
as long as you give credit with a link to our page:
http://www.thebenefitnetwork.com/
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The Benefit Network Special Thanksgiving Edition
is an opt-in ezine available by subscription only.
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