Month: May 2012

Arby’s food results in less than good mood

As many of you may have heard, an unfortunate 14-year-old in Michigan ran across a nasty surprise in what was supposed to be a simple Arby's roast beef sandwich. After digging into his mail Hart noticed something funny, an odd, chewy consistency to the normally tender meat. After spitting out his bite he identified the culprit: a human finger. Summing up the incident quite succinctly, Ryan Hart said, "It was just nasty." Readers should know that this wasn't an attempt by Arby's to diversify its menu; the severed finger was the result of a kitchen accident by an employee at one of the chain's local stores. According to reports, an employee cut off her finger with a meat slicer while preparing Hart's sandwich. In a panic, she quickly left her station, failing to warn her coworkers about the injury (or the missing digit). Unaware that there was a problem, the rest of the staff continued filling orders, delivering an unexpected surprise to the teenager.

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What is a living will and how does it work?

What a living will is and why you need oneA living will (also known as an advance medical directive) is a statement of your wishes for the kind of life-sustaining medical intervention you want, or don't want, in the event that you become terminally ill and unable to communicate. A living will is typically used by people to identify the point at which they no longer desire certain types of life-prolonging medical treatment, but it can also lay out an individual's desire for continuation of treatment.

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What is a power of attorney?

If you've begun thinking about the importance of estate planning to safeguard the future of yourself and the family members who rely on you, a critical component of any plan is a power of attorney. A power of attorney is a legal document you can use to give someone else the authority to take specific actions on your behalf, such as signing your checks to pay your bills or selling a particular piece of real estate for you. The principal (you) determines the amount of power given to the attorney-in-fact (the person acting in your stead), and this individual can be given the authority to deal with only one particular issue (a specific power of attorney), or to handle most of the principal's personal and financial matters (a general power of attorney).

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May is Elder Law Month in Alabama

NAELA, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc. established May as Elder Law Month as a way to educate seniors and their families about their legal options in dealing with elder abuse and fraud, long-term and health care planning, Medicaid, Medicare, estate planning, and other important issues that effect the senior population. "With the elderly population growing each day, driven in large part by the graying of the Baby Boomer generation, it is crucial to assist older Americans and their families in finding legal services and resources to improve their quality of life," said NAELA President Edwin Boyer.

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