06.29.08
Health Care Power of Attorney
By: Derek J. Cordier, Esq.
I have heard a few horror stories about LGBTs and powers of attorney. Without a power of attorney for health care you may be unable to accompany your partner or loved one to the doctor’s office or hospital room. Even in an emergency, without a power of attorney for health care in your possession, you may be unable to travel with your partner in an ambulance. Could you imagine the horror of being told you cannot get into the ambulance with the love of your life because you do not have a power of attorney? Then running home to get the power of attorney only to find that your partner had died en route to the hospital!
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) have made health care professionals extremely vigilant in not allowing access to their patient’s confidential health information. Such information includes your name, address, and social security number. Although, there is no private cause of action under HIPPA, and there is a 180 day time limit to file a claim, an entity that is accountable under the Act is subject to severe fines for an infringement.
Many durable powers of attorney only contain a short paragraph concerning health care, which may not be enough to allow a partner to access confidential health information. A comprehensive health care power of attorney allowing specifically for access to confidential health information, while giving the power holder the ability to choose doctors, provide for changes in care and comfort, is the best way to protect your rights concerning your own health care.
While a power of attorney for health care allows someone else to make decisions for you if you are incapacitated, it does not necessarily allow them to make the decision to stop life support. A living will, called an Advanced Health Care Directive in Pennsylvania, is needed to carry out those wishes.
Although a Last Will and Testament is important, a power of attorney for health care is, in my opinion, the most important document an LGBT can have. In my last hours I do not want a doctor or family member interfering with the rights my partner should have as a matter of course.
carol said,
July 26, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I recently had a hearing with the DMV to see if I was eligible to get my license back after a suspension. I had to supply the hearing officer with a copy of a medical report from my Dr, showing the medications I was on, and my illnesses, treatment etc. I had to take 3 witnessess with me. Each witness was questioned seperately with a tape recorder present. Two of the witnessess were in the medical field. A couple of days after the hearing, one of the witnesses called me and told me that something wierd went on in the meeting. She told me she was familiar with the Hippa rules. She told me that the Hearing Officer,was interviewing her and taping the conversation, when she reached over and cut the recorder off. She told the witness she wasn’t supposed to do this and not to tell me, but she wanted the witness to see my medical record and see the medications I was taking. She specifically told the witness one of the pain medications I was on and told her “If I were to get caught driving while taking this medicine, that it would be the same as driving while impaired.”
The second witness told me almost the exact same thing that the hearing officer has said to her, along the same lines. The witness told me that my Hippa rights had been violated. To make a long story short, DMV admitted it was wrong and I had to have an interview with 2 employees from DMV, myself and the 2 witnesses involved. They told their story and after the interview, I asked if and when could I get the results of the interview. I wanted to know if the Hearing Officer would be cited. I was told I could not receive this info because it would violate the hearing officers rights. Duh? What about my rights? Anyway, the hearing refused to give me my license back and I am up for another hearing next month and they have scheduled me for a hearing 3 hrs. away from my home, because, guess what? That hearing officer is still with them and they won’t let me have another hearing with her.I have heard nothing more from this and they act as if nothing has happened. How can she get away with this and do I have a claim? I feel like I have been slandered and talked about behind my back by the hearing Officer and I also feel like DMV is giving me a hard time now because of it.
Kylie Batt said,
May 18, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Скромнее нужно быть…
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