I only recently heard of these forms in the context of college students, and I would like to take care of them (preferably this week, which will make it very easy to notarize them.) I am in New York and will be attending school in MA; I am currently 18 years old.
How do I go about doing this? Most of the websites I found (actually all, but I only did a preliminary search) were rated as “untrustworthy” by my WOT extension. I believe the form I want is durable power of attorney–but would this make a medical form redundant? Additionally, my father is my doctor (pediatrician) so does that matter to any extent? Can I name both parents or only one? And most importantly WHERE can I find the correct forms without having my identity stolen, downloading a virus, or simply wasting my time on the wrong form.
Thank you for your help.
(I’m not a parent but most discussions of this nature I’ve seen are in this forum. Sorry for the faux pas)
Seniors in my Catholic school learn all this stuff before they graduate in a series of seminars. (We also cover things like Credit card debt and your legal rights.) They’re given a blank Health Care Proxy form to fill out if they so choose.
I was offered one when I went in for major surgery a few years ago. If you can’t find a copy from a site you consider safe, I would check with nearby hospitals or ask a lawyer; I would imagine both have them on hand.
Have you asked your dad? I imagine he would know.
I think you’re doing a very adult thing in taking care of this!
One thing you might consider is that you may need to have a form that is acceptable in both NY and Massachusetts, which might entail two forms. I also commend you for this foresight. Have you checked with your college to see if it has a form or might be able to refer you to for Massachusetts?
I think a medical proxy and FERPA release are helpful. Maybe a release form for your parents to talk to your insurance company. I have never given power of attorney any thought though. Do others do that? POA seems inappropriate to me. It’s generally for situations in which a person is disabled. A proxy from is available at any doctor’s office and they can keep it on file. The release can be signed at school.
I am a trusts and estates lawyer and deal with these issues all the time. The answers depend on the laws of your home state (NY) - the fact that you are going to college in another state doesn’t matter, as long as your family stays in NY. Anyway, in most states, automatic parental authority ends at age 18, and so all 18+ year olds really need to name agents for personal financial and health care decisions. Doing so allows trusted agents (e.g., parents) to be able to sign things and do things for you in your absence, as well as handling decisions for you should you become disabled/incapacitated (e.g., medical emergency, accident).
The right way to do that in most states is to sign (1) a durable power of attorney (naming agents for all matters except health care), (2) a health care power of attorney (naming agents for health care decisions), and (3) a “HIPAA authorization” (exempting your agents from the medical privacy rules under federal law).
In some states, the first two documents are state-approved form documents, with standard language. If they are such in NY, then still you must be careful to complete and sign them correctly. It surprises me that a majority of “state forms” that come into my office are incorrectly filled out and/or executed.
To be safer, you may want to ask your parents to have their attorney do these for you. I often do these for clients whose kids are turning 18 - getting this done shouldn’t take much time or cost a lot in legal fees.
Once you finish school and either relocate to a state other than NY, and/or marry and want to name your spouse instead of (or ahead of) your parents as your agents, then you can and should amend these documents. But for now, I think a set of NY compliant 3 documents named above should suit you fine.
One of my kids was in a coma and I was a proxy, but she hadn’t even signed FERPA or other releases and certainly hadn’t done POA. We didn’t have any problems with me handling things. I have never heard of a kid going off to college and doing this kind of paperwork. A proxy at primary care is all you need. And FERPA at school.
Thank you, I will email the school and ask my mom (to ask the corresponding people, lol). I was reading a thread what parents should do before kids go to college (Checklist for Parents of Incoming Freshmen?) , and someone posted this, which many seconded:
“As soon as your child turns 18, regardless if they are going to college or not, get a power of attorney signed for all areas, including medical decisions. Why? Because anything can happen. My older daughter was hit by a car that left her in a coma with a traumatic brain injury. Once she turned 18 (when she was still in rehab and emerging), I lost all access to her health insurance information (even though I am the insurance holder) along with access to any financial records that was not in a joint account. You do NOT want to be put in a position to have to go to court to request guardianship if your child is sick or injured.”
So perhaps there are different experiences depending on where you go/the formalities/understanding of the situation people you deal with have. But better safe than sorry right?
@bjkmom I wish my school had seminars like that. I feel like I do a lot of random googling to get incomplete information these days
I had the exact same situation with kid with TBI and coma and had no problems without a POA, which I think is overkill, but it won’t do any harm I suppose.
I had a proxy for medical stuff, and was a designated representative on insurance. These involved filling out simple forms, no lawyer. I believe I was also on the bank account, another simple form. My kid never filled out the FERPA release.
And believe me, when they had me run along with the gurney on the way to surgery while she lay basically dying, to sign consent, they didn’t ask me if I had POA. They knew I was her mom, period.
Perhaps it was a matter of the laws in your particular state? Or her age?
The documents take very little time, and very little money. And, once signed, they’re good until you change them.
But I know that simply being a parent isn’t good enough forever. I’m 58, and my 86 year old mom’s wishes would not be taken into account if I were in a bad accident. So age 18 is a good time to formalize your wishes.
What if your parents disagree? Who would you want to have the final say? Do you want your parents to have unlimited discretion or do you want to give specific directives ex.: if X happens, DNR?
Well, roethlisburger, on the chart posted in #9 my state has “none.” I also noticed that chart is labeled as pertaining to aging. It seems smart, perhaps, to do the POA if it covers everything rather than dealing with each component (medical proxy, insurance designated rep, FERPA release etc.) if the paperwork is really that easy, but the OP said there were challenges in getting it done.
I’m a bit confused about the inter-state complexities. If we are full time residents of New York, and S will be going to school in Virginia (and traveling to and from through every state between several times a year), ** will the New York docs be enough? ** What if he needs my medical decisions in Virginia or Pennsylvania or Maryland or Delaware or New Jersey?
@STEM2017 Yes the NY documents are the right ones to have and the only ones S needs. These matters are controlled by one’s primary residence, not a temporary place like an OOS college or an OOS hospital/health facility.
By the way, I read some comments above suggesting that signing powers of attorney and health care directives may be overkill. I completely disagree. I think it’s really important for 18+ year olds to sign these documents to firm up who has authorities to act for them. Yes, a parent (like the one above) may be able to skate by for some time without these documents, through some combination of provider-specific directives, joint accounts, and the good grace of the people the parent is dealing with at the time. But that is risky behavior and there is just no reason to take on any risk here. I often have had to help families go to court to get “guardianship” and/or “conservatorship” - very expensive and time consuming propositions - in situations that easily could have been avoided had the now-disabled-or-incapacitated person just signed these easy documents when able.
As I wrote above, in many/most states, powers of attorney and health care directives are state-approved forms - probably available online or at a library. And even if you use a lawyer for this (which isn’t required), often they will handle this for free or very low cost for children of their existing clients. Getting this done is easy, and likely free or low cost - and just good planning.
I think the parents should have both the originals and copies. We also scan these signed documents to pdf and email pdf files to clients - very useful for people to be able to email pdfs to health providers, banks, other third parties, etc. Copies of powers of attorney and health care directives typically are just as good and effective as originals.
I assume the default is to provide medical treatment if no family is available. If the next of kin is available and consents to treatment it provides an extra legal CYA for the hospital if there’s a malpractice case. Had you tried to refuse medical treatment, I bet you would have found the process significantly more complicated.
I just want to clarify here that a medical proxy, which some of the posts seem to be referencing, is not the same thing as a power of attorney. Most doctors’ offices want a proxy form on file.