It's just this hard when I try to answer the question: Why do older Oklahomans need lawyers? The answers are important enough that they will be a discussion topic of this year's Senior Day at 9 a.m. March 25 in the House Chamber at the Capitol. The following is a preview of some of the answers for review: We can all agree that older Oklahomans need medical care. But even the best care is worthless if an older patient can't drive to the doctor for ongoing treatment because his or her car has been wrongfully seized in a debt dispute. Therefore, lawyers are part of the prescription for regular medical care for many of the 600,000 Oklahomans age 60 and older. Another example: if a doctor treats an elderly patient for a lung ailment, the doctor's treatment will be undone and he will see the patient again and again, if the patient is sent home to an unheated apartment. Lawyers know how to make landlords heat apartments so the medical treatment can stick. (By the way, a May 16, 2001, article in The New York Times reports on a program at Boston Medical Center providing a walk-in legal clinic in the hospital to help fight their patients' legal and administrative battles.) We also can agree that older Oklahomans - like all citizens - have rights to control their health care until they become incapacitated or these rights are transferred to another by legal document or process. "Old" is not a legal classification that results in automatic loss of these rights. Moreover, having an old parent does not automatically confer on children the right to make the parents' health care choices. It follows that an important role lawyers provide for aging Oklahomans is not only to create rights - transferring documents such as durable powers of attorney and guardianship orders, but also to monitor their use. In family situations, for example, lawyers must ensure that powers of attorney and guardianships are used to serve only the person transferring or losing rights. They are not to be used to help a family "manage" their mother or help a doctor or nursing home get permission for a pill or procedure they feel is in the best interest of a patient. Good news: Oklahoma now has a Public Guardianship Program, albeit unfunded, that will supply lawyers to perform this rights-monitoring process Oklahoma grandparents should be able to enjoy their grandchildren, not raise them. But owing to the social problems of divorce and drug use, grandparents are increasingly being called on to raise their grandchildren because of missing parents. Adding to the physical, emotional and financial burden they take on, grandparents face legal problems. All the decisions parents made without a second thought now require evidence of legal authority when made by grandparents.

Question: "When is this year's Senior Day?"

Response: "May 16"

A: no

Dr. Benjamin Stone is a hotshot young surgeon who longs to leave the drudgery of a Washington , D.C. emergency room and finally leaps at his chance at more money and less death as a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills . On his last day , Ben's relationship with his co-workers is presumed to be anything but a warm one . None of his colleagues will join him for a drink and a cake in his honor has an iced portion of the phrase '' Good riddance , asshole '' sliced out . Ben's cross-country drive in a 1956 Porsche 356 Speedster is interrupted when he crashes in the rural hamlet of Grady , South Carolina . The crash damages the fence of local Judge Evans , who sentences him to community service at a nearby hospital . Ben offers to pay for the fence , but the stern judge increases his community service each time he talks back . Defeated , he reports to the hospital , where Nurse Packer humbles him by ordering him to clock in and out , as would a factory worker . Though upset , Ben quickly makes friends with Mayor Nick Nicholson , the town cafe's proprietor/head waitress , and Melvin , the local mechanic tasked with repairing Ben's car . Ben soon finds his clinic work to be much more laid-back than the emergency room . He has simple cases such as spots before the eyes , fishing hook impalings , and even reading mail for a young illiterate couple , whose baby he later delivers . The experience also humbles Ben when he mistreats a case of mitral valve regurgitation leading to late cyanosis in the child .

Question: "Name two pieces of information that show that Dr. Stone probably is wealthier than the average person."

Response: "Willing to immedietaly pay for fence"

A: yes

Have you ever seen an egg? Some animals do not have live births. Instead, they lay eggs. The eggs contain the embryo. The embryo matures in the egg. With time, it will hatch. Some animals hatch and do not need care from their parents. They are ready to live on their own. Other animals will still need the care of their parents. Sea turtles break out of their shells. They immediately walk to the ocean. They do this with no help from an adult. Birds stay in the nest for many weeks. They are cared for by their parents. They leave the nest when they are strong enough to fly. Some animals give birth to live offspring. Animals like horses, cows, and whales give live birth. Their offspring are born looking like mini adults.

Question: "What are the two kinds of hatching behavior?"

Response: "Some animals hatch and do not need care from their parents. Other animals will still need the care of their parents"

A:
yes