DYING WISHES:
Advance Health Directives

Narrated Package Plus Additional
B-Roll and SOTS

  

The following footage is provided free of charge by the American Bar Association for use in news broadcasts at your editorial discretion.

SUGGESTED ANCHOR LEAD:

The fate of Terri Schiavo, the 40-year-old Florida woman who has been in a vegetative state for 14 years, is now in the hands of courts and lawmakers. An advance health care directive spelling out Schiavo's wishes could have prevented the family's battle over her care.

While the Schiavo case is receiving widespread attention, thousands of other families face the same life or death decision every day. As Lee Miller reports, the American Bar Association has free online resources available to help families avoid painful disputes over when and how a loved one should be allowed to die.

TITLES IN ORDER:

:35

Randi Goldstein

1:26

Dennis W. Archer, President American Bar Association

COUNTDOWN:
Ch. 1 - Narrator
Ch. 2 - BG & SOTS
Pkg. Runs 2:05

Plus Additional
B-Roll and SOTS
TRT 6:33
VIDEO
AUDIO
Randi Goldstein walking alone


Picture Father & Randi

Randi walking

Father picture

NARRATOR:
Randi Goldstein has faced death twice.

The first time was when her father, Murray became critically ill. They talked about his prognosis and he named Randi his medical proxy. She would make health care decisions for him when he would no longer be able to do so himself.

When all hope of recovery was gone, and her father could no longer speak for himself, Randi was faced with a decision. Based on her father's wishes and guidance from his doctors, rather than prolong his suffering with painful treatment, Randi let her father die.

TITLE: Randi Goldstein

SOT R. GOLDSTEIN:
I walked out of his room saying I gave him what he wanted, I was able to do it for him and now he is at peace and I can be at peace with it.

Randi and her daughter looking through photo album

 

 

NARRATOR:
Today, Randi is facing these same issues again - this time for herself. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Randi also wanted to make her wishes known through an advance health directive.

TITLE: Randi Goldstein

SOT R. GOLDSTEIN:
My father did it the best way that he could with help from me and I know that I'm going to have help to do it the way that I want to do it.

Randi working

 

 

NARRATOR:
Randi's cancer is in remission. But because of her experiences with advance health directives she now works to help others experience "good" deaths like her father's.

Randi and her husmand looking at her Advance Health Directives

 

The American Bar Association recommends that all families prepare for the worst now-before a crisis arises.

TITLE: Dennis W. Archer
President, American Bar Association

 

 ARCHER SOT:
Think about your own wishes and preferences…and about what you would want if you had a life-threatening illness. Get the documents. Fill in the blanks. Name a trusted individual to make medical decisions in the event that you can't make those choices on your own. And above all, teach that person -- your health care agent -- how you would want the final chapter of your life written.

Family taking a walk

 NARRATOR: Randi deals with life and death every day, but for now, she is focusing on quality of life.

SOT R. GOLDSTEIN:
There is no choice in the matter when it comes to death, but there is a choice about how you die, and that can be a good thing.

Family taking a walk

 

This is Lee Miller reporting.

SUGGESTED ANCHOR TAG:
For free workbooks, legal forms and information on advance health directives visit ABALawInfo.org. Click on "your family."

  

ADDITIONAL B-ROLL:
-Randi working at Last Acts Partnership
-Family walking with Dogs
-Randi's Advance Health Directives
-American Bar Association website

  

ADDITIONAL SOTS:

TITLE: Randi Goldstein

R. GOLDSTEIN:
I don't want to be pushed and poked and probed and you know worry about losing my hair or any of that, you know, um, death is a hard to thing to except, getting old is a hard thing to accept but its not an option, its just not a option.
 

R. GOLDSTEIN:
I tell everyone do it, it's a five min procedure, do it, just fill it out the advance directive, let me people know where it is and it brings you this incredible sense of peace

ADDITIONAL SOT:

TITLE: Dennis W. Archer
President,
American Bar Association

ARCHER:
Too few Americans do advanced planning. It's important for all adults, not just for old people. Indeed, the young in many ways have more at stake because serious medical decisions can have consequences that last decades. Don't fall into the thinking that planning for the worst makes the worst happen. That's not true. Planning now for future health care decisions is a priceless gift to your loved ones and to yourself.

For more information contact:
Julie Brown
American Bar Association
312/988-6133
brownjd@staff.abanet.org
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