Firm's pro bono work gives cancer patients peace of mind

By Shelia M. Poole

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jeff Nix, a partner with the law firm Troutman Sanders, usually represents big contractors and developers in multi-million dollar cases.

But a few years ago, he and others in the firm began helping another type of client.

Several low-income women who were cancer patients needed more than medical attention -- they needed the healing power of peace of mind.

Some wanted to ensure that if they became terminally ill, their families would not have the painful decision of whether to keep them on life support. Some wanted to spell out who would get custody of their children or control any assets they left behind.

Nix recalled the time his group was asked to go to rural Georgia to prepare a will for a dying woman.

A 35-year-old mother of two, she lay on a mattress on the kitchen floor. She had end stage breast cancer and wanted to put her affairs in order. "It wasn't that she had a lot of stuff," Nix said. "She just wanted to make sure that her kids were taken care of." Two days later, the woman died.

"In this case, she was so close to death maybe this gave her comfort of mind," Nix said.

"Cancer is a terrible disease," said Nix, who lost his mother to colon cancer in 1987. "Usually what we try to do is relieve stress from their lives so they can focus on fighting the disease."

Haley Schwartz, director of the Breast Cancer Legal Project of Atlanta Legal Aid, said Troutman Sanders contacted her about about doing pro bono work.

The Breast Cancer Legal Project was formed in 2005 to help low-income breast cancer patients handle a variety of legal issues ranging from fighting evictions to getting public benefits including Medicaid.

However, Schwartz noticed that some of the women also needed help preparing documents such as advance care directives, powers of attorney and wills. Some didn't understand why such documents were important or what steps to take to prepare them.

Her resources were limited, so she accepted Troutman Sanders' offer to help patients with all forms of cancers..

“It’s an incredible resource for us,”  Schwartz said.

The Troutman Sanders team -- attorneys, paralegals and secretaries -- works with patients at Grady Memorial Hospital’s cancer center, DeKalb Medical Center and in hospice care facilities.

Nix estimates they have prepared more than 500 documents, occasionally coming in the last days of life.

"Sometimes we get patients here who are declining very rapidly and we have very little time where they are still lucid enough to think through these complex matters and make a decision,” said Marjorie Osheroff, an oncology social worker at DeKalb Medical. “So we have to move quickly.”

She said more patients are coming in now with later stages of cancers. She encourages patients to complete the legal forms early on rather than waiting until they’re under crisis when it’s more difficult.

Earlier this year, Lydia Asare, a registered nurse from Stone Mountain, was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. During  treatment, she had a severe reaction to chemotherapy and landed in DeKalb Medical.

The episode was a wake-up call. “It let me know that nothing is for sure,” said the mother of three adults. Although her diagnosis is not terminal, she said, “I thought I was going to die.” She was in the hospital for seven days, during which she met with staff from Troutman Sanders.

“I know there’s a high risk with chemotherapy and anything can happen,” Asare said. “I wanted to make sure I could make my own health care decisions. I wanted to make those arrangements so family members would not have to make the decision and it was all legally documented.”

Asare made it clear that if she became terminally ill, no extraordinary measures would be taken to prolong her life.

“I feel more secure and have peace of mind that things are filled out and my family knows what my expectations are.”

Nix said the firm's assistance, which includes eviction defense and veteran's benefits help, brings its staffers “an appreciation of life.”

“This is not like other pro bono work. It’s not happy ending stuff," Nix said. "You’re meeting people under very difficult circumstances. Most of what we do has happy endings.”