Authorizing 3rd Parties to Make Health Care Decisions for Minor Children
Sometimes a parent is needed to make health care decisions for one or more of their children or a guardian is needed to make health care decisions for one or more of the children for whom the guardian is the legal guardian, but the parent or guardian is unavailable. This could happen when the child is at school, involved in extracurricular activities such as sports, or under a variety of circumstances. The parent or guardian might be unavailable for any number of reasons, including work obligations, travel, injury, illness, etc. How can the parent or guardian prepare for such a situation?
Washington law permits a parent or guardian, through a power of attorney, to authorize an agent to make health care decisions for a child under the age of eighteen, to be effective if the child has no other parent or legal representative readily available and authorized to give such consent. This may be the only power granted in the power of attorney document; the power of attorney document does not need to grant any other powers to the agent. On the other hand, it could be one of several powers granted in the power of attorney document.
In addition, the power of attorney should be “durable.” This means that the power of attorney is not affected by the parent’s or guardian’s incapacity. Without the “durable” feature included in a power of attorney, the agent loses the power to act under the power of attorney when the parent or guardian becomes incapacitated. A power of attorney is made “durable” by including the words, “This power of attorney shall not be affected by disability of the principal,” or “This power of attorney shall become effective upon the disability of the principal.” Given the purpose of the power of attorney to authorize an agent to make health care decisions for a minor child, and the potential for such decisions to be time sensitive, providing that the power of attorney “shall not be affected by disability of the principal” makes more sense because it eliminates the need to determine whether the principal is affected by a disability.
If you need assistance with your estate planning matters, contact one of Beresford Booth’s estate planning lawyers.
To learn more about Authorizing 3rd Parties to Make Health Care Decisions for Minor Children, please contact Beresford Booth at info@beresfordlaw.com or by phone at (425) 776-4100.
