Latest & Greatest – Elder Law in a Nutshell

By Lawrence A. Frolik and Richard L. Kaplan

Published by West Academic Publishing

KF 390 .A4 A423

If you are looking for a succinct guide to the issues that arise and the laws that affect older persons, then Elder Law in a Nutshell may be just the book for you. Part of West Academic Publishing’s popular Nutshell series, Elder Law in a Nutshell addresses the unique challenges faced by those who advise and represent the aging members of our community and guides the reader through the myriad issues that pop up in the elder law field. Pertinent topics include: health care decision making, Medicare, Medigap, and Medicaid, long-term care insurance, housing and housing alternatives, guardianship and its alternatives, social security benefits, veterans’ benefits, pensions, age discrimination in employment, and elder abuse and neglect. 

Health care and the related costs involved with obtaining medical coverage could be the highest and most significant concern of the elder community. In a similar vein, the authors explain the doctrine of informed consent and the patient’s right to control medical treatment and terminate life-sustaining treatment. There is a discussion of living wills, the creation and execution requirements, and their validity. The authors guide the reader through the Medicare maze and explain the eligibility requirements, enrollment procedures, and coverage, including the dreaded “donut hole” for drug expenditures. Later chapters address the nature of long-term care insurance and housing options, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The authors look at the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA) and the protections it offers to nursing home residents, such as the freedom from abuse and restraints and the right of access to entities providing health, social, or legal services. The authors also examine the eligibility requirements and the tax issues involved with perhaps the single most provider of retirement income: social security benefits. For those seniors who seek employment to supplement their retirement income, there is a discussion of age discrimination and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Lastly, the authors address the sad reality of elder abuse and neglect and the legislative responses to this terrible form of domestic violence.

You can find this and other titles from the Nutshell series in our Self-Help Collection here at the Harris County Law Library.

Latest & Greatest – The Law of Later-Life Healthcare and Decision Making

By Lawrence A. Frolik

Published by American Bar Association. Senior Lawyers Division.

KF 3608 .A4 F76 2017

Photo Credit: Helen Hartman

Healthcare is a concern at any stage of life, but as one ages, decisions regarding healthcare take on greater significance, not only because of the concern for and consequences of choices made on behalf of those of diminished capacity but also because of the very nature of end-of-life decisions. The author, a national expert on legal issues affecting older individuals, has written a book, The Law of Later-Life Healthcare and Decision Making, to help answer questions people may have about healthcare decision making and the laws surrounding and regulating this area. Divided into five chapters, this book covers paying for healthcare, long-term care housing options, paying for long-term care, the legal implications of mental incapacity, and end of life decision making. Within each chapter, you will find discussions of significant case law developments and statutory changes and explanations of important topics, such as Medicare and Medicaid, aging in place, nursing homes, long-term care insurance, reverse mortgages, guardianships, living wills, health care powers of attorney, DNR orders, and hospice care.

Latest & Greatest – The Fundamentals of Guardianship: What Every Guardian Should Know

Published by the American Bar Association. Senior Lawyers Division

KF 553 .H87 2017

Photo Credit: Helen Hartman

Published by the Senior Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association in conjunction with the National Guardianship Association, The Fundamentals of Guardianship: What Every Guardian Should Know provides family, professional, and public guardians and conservators with a concise guide of the duties and responsibilities incumbent with these positions. As the title suggests, this book provides a good overview of the guardianship process and all that it entails. You will learn about the different types of guardianships, some less-restrictive alternatives to guardianship, the rights affected by the appointment of a guardian, and the guardian’s role and fiduciary duties, including the the responsibilities and duties of those who are guardians of the estate and of those who are guardians of the person.

Sadly, abuse, neglect, and exploitation are realities in the lives of so many vulnerable people. Thus, it is important for guardians to be able to recognize evidence of such behavior and what to do about it. In the event of a change in the person’s status, the guardian must know the steps to take to terminate or modify the guardianship. A chapter is devoted to this topic. Additionally, the resource materials in the back of the book, including checklists and sample worksheets and inventories, are especially helpful. These resources include checklists and sample worksheets and inventories.

The Fundamentals of Guardianship: What Every Guardian Should Know contains a wealth of information for the novice guardian or someone who needs a refresher on the rights and responsibilities that come with a guardianship.

The Spirit of the Law

In the spirit of the Halloween season, Harris County Law Library is exhibiting several spooky selections from our print collection. The sources we uncovered will be on display through the end of the month. Don't miss your chance to see them before they vanish! The following featured items are included in the exhibit. 

Burchill v. Hermsmeyer, 212 SW 767 (1919), is the case of the ghost who inspired a contract dispute and a fraud claim. Mr. Hermsmeyer sued to recover the $10,000 he invested in Mrs. Burchill's corporation. She claimed that ghosts, with whom she consulted via a medium, told her there was oil under her land. When no oil was discovered, Mr. Hermsmeyer argued that Ms. Burchill's claim was a fraudulent misrepresentation of facts. The court rejected his argument saying that the existence of ghosts is a matter of belief, not of fact. His claim was, therefore, "insufficient to form a basis for relief for the plaintiff."

Purtell v. Mason, 527 F.3d 615 (2008), involves Halloween yard decorations which caused a neighborhood dispute and raised questions about the right to insult every person on your block. Jeffrey and Vicki Purtell displayed six wooden tombstones in front of their Chicago home, each bearing unflattering references to their neighbors and the details of each person's fictitious demise. One of the neighbors identified on the tombstones argued with Mr. Purtell over the offensive decorations resulting in a call to the police. Officer Bruce Mason arrived at the scene. He arrested Mr. Purtell and ordered the removal of the tombstones. The Purtells asserted their free speech rights, but the Seventh Circuit found no loss of First Amendment Protection under the "fighting words" doctrine. 

The Law of Cadavers and of Burial and Burial Places by Percival E. Jackson is the "standard work on the subject of the law pertaining to the care and disposal of bodies of deceased human beings, and the establishment and maintenance of burial places." Included in this volume is a thorough treatment of the law regarding sepulture along with "approximately a hundred pages of forms pertaining to the regulation of cemeteries, the transfer of plots, graves, and monuments therein and the care, transportation, and burial of human corpses as well as some forms of legal proceedings in both tort and contract, germane to the general subject." (Book Review by Charles G. Coster, 2014) This title, 2nd edition, is available in the Harris County Law Library's print collection and also via HeinOnline's Legal Classics Library, which you can access at the Law Library.

In the early 1900s, three creative thinkers designed new and improved lanterns in the category of "decorative and grotesque illuminating devices commonly called jackolanterns." (Andrew B. Heard, Patent No. 715,379) Their patent drawings are featured in the exhibit and shown in in the graphics throughout this post.

To see the rest of the Halloween-themed legal materials on display, visit the Law Library before November 1st. Happy haunting!