Florida Lawyers Offering Free Living Wills to Teachers Who Have to Return to School
NOT A GOOD SIGN
Several lawyers in Florida are providing free living wills to teachers, which assign responsibility of a person’s medical choices should they become incapacitated. The move was started by Charles Gallagher, a St. Petersburg-area lawyer who was shocked by the deaths of three Arizona teachers who contracted COVID-19 after returning to school and by a sign in a protest by teachers that said, “Teacher supplies: books, crayons and wills.” Since advertising the free service, Gallagher said he has received inquiries from 600 teachers and other school employees. Jan Englert, an Orlando-area lawyer, partnered with a local radio station to offer the same free will service to teachers there. Her firm received 800 inquiries in two days.