![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.seonewswire.net\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/ed0a28ebab_21noa-legal-blog480.jpg\" "\\"21noa-legal-blog480\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nA number of patients with chronic diseases<\/strong> and advanced age at the Lakeside Senior Medical Center<\/a>, an outpatient clinic at the University of California, San Francisco<\/strong>, have never filled out power-of-attorney documents<\/strong> or appointed someone to make health care decisions<\/strong> if they are unable to.<\/p>\n Doctors frequently suspect their patients may qualify for public benefits like food stamps or MediCal<\/strong>, the state\u2019s version of Medicaid<\/strong>. Their diagnosis: they need lawyers. However, it\u2019s easier said than done to try an get frail, low-income seniors to consult an elder law attorney<\/strong>. For example, how will they be transported to a legal aid office? Will their elderly patients even make an appointment? And remember to go?<\/p>\n (Related: New York Memory Center Reinvigorates Dementia Patients<\/a>)<\/p>\n At Lakeside<\/strong>, Sarah Hooper, who teaches at the University of California Hastings College of the Law<\/strong>, believes there is a simpler solution.<\/p>\n \u201cThe physicians do the initial screenings, hear what their patients\u2019 problems are, (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A number of patients with chronic diseases and advanced age at the Lakeside Senior Medical Center, an outpatient clinic at the University of California, San Francisco, have never filled out power-of-attorney documents or appointed someone to make health care decisions…<\/span><\/p>\n