Emotional decisions or decisions that you make when you are in pain, or suffering, or decisions, or decisions that you make after you have just had surgery, or decisions that you make when you are heavily medicated, are "iffy" decisions. What do I mean by "iffy". Well, I wonder "if" you were not in pain or suffering or if you had not just been operated on or if you were not heavily medicated, would you have made that same decision in the same way in the same time of your life. Or was your decision making process governed by drugs or by your physical or emotionally-weary conditions?

If you go to any of the 12-step programs, the first thing that they will tell you is to refrain from making any important life decisions for 90 days. Yet, you can come out of open-heart surgery and have medical staff thrust fifty-page documents at you for you to sign and no one sticks up for you and no one tells you to wait or to have your family or your family lawyer present for that very serious document-signing.

Why is this that no one protects patients from signing documents that they clearly do not want to sign, yet there is a protection for those who are enrolled inside of a 12-step program?

The answer is in what the medical facilities, doctors, surgeons and rehab places stand to gain from those signatures Once the nursing homes and the rehab places put their enrollment applications and admissions documents in front of you-the patient, you are probably and usually too tired, too drained, and too emotionally and too physically-weary to argue the point. Say you do not want to sign the documents? The facility has you practically hostage, by telling you that the documents are routine documents and you trust the facility because you think they are there to heal and to help you.

But rather, the truth is, there are some employees in that facility whose main job is to get your money, get your social security checks and get your disability and your homes away from you. Can you believe that ? It is those social workers who are there employed by these rehab places and nursing homes that want to know all of your financial business EVEN if you have come into the place saying and insisting that you have private insurance and EVEN though you say and insist that you are not applying for Medicaid or medicare. They want all of your information as part of a routine application.

Do not believe the words routine because there is nothing further from the truth. What might be routine for the medical place is not routine for you or for your finances. When they say that word routine to you in respect to applications, enrollments admissions or documents when you first come into rehab or into nursing homes, they mean that they are routinely going to try and get all your assets, all your social security, and any and all payments that you have due to you. Of course there are some laws that protect you. But most times, those documents that they ask you to sign are one-sided documents all in favor of the rehab place or of the nursing homes.

Think twice before signing anything at all. Insist that you have friends and family there if there are multitudes of documents to be signed. In fact, even if they want you to sign only one document or one page, insist that your family member or your private personal lawyer be present. Do not, under any circumstance take any lawyer or legal representative that this place provides or calls for you. You need someone independent.

Watch out for all hoe documents. You could be signing away your entire home, all and any assets, funds and bank accounts, and your entire future. The author is not a medical or legal professional and has published this article for entertainment, enjoyment and information only. This article and other articles by the same author are not intended to be any legal or medical advice, so consult your own professionals before taking any serious action that might affect your life, nursing home stay or finances.

ALERT: Do not be fooled by the word routine uttered from staff's mouth. These routine documents could turn out to be legally-binding contracts. You must have help and witnesses before signing any such papers. Any REPUTABLE nursing home or care facility will permit you to wait until family members are there for you. Unscrupulous nursing homes will wait until your family leaves and then ask you to sign the papers. Do not be duped!