“Agents” - usually children of our older clients, need to be a bit more pro-active in their roles. I find that many clients presume that since the hospital, for instance, has a copy of the older patient’s health care directive (or POA) that administration and medical staff will naturally check the health care agent when seeking important information (such as consent). I’ll tell my clients who are HCPOA agents to make some noise with their POA and be pro-active. Let the floor nurses and doctors know that they need to keep the agent “in the loop”. Just handing in a POA in during the admission process in oftentimes not enough.

B Treacy, Esq.
Bluffton, SC