POA vs POAH....

eagle78 · Dec 14, 2011

That is interesting. I had never heard of POAH. My question is what if a person only has POA, does that suffice for medical decisions???

realnursealso/LPN, LPN · Dec 14, 2011

In NYS, we have Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy. The first has to do with legal matters and bank accounts excetera. To have someone to make your medical decisions you appoint them as your Health Care Proxy.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Dec 14, 2011

That is interesting. I had never heard of POAH. My question is what if a person only has POA, does that suffice for medical decisions???

Depending on the state- no.

They aren't covered.

People need to know what their state requires re: medical decisions (either for themselves or their patients)

The POA form is purely financial....no mention of medical issues. (TX and IL)

POAH is purely medical- though I think there may be a small part re: expenses pertaining to medical care..... has NO impact on selling the house if in a nursing home, etc.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Dec 14, 2011

Enter: Power of Attorney vs Power of Attorney for Healthcare (or whatever your state calls it) and watch millions of entries come up :)

I had the link- but it lead to some personal info I can't get rid of

ClearBlueOctoberSky · Dec 14, 2011

I have not heard of a POAH either. In Colorado, where I live, it is MDPOA-Medical Durable Power of Attorney.

For my mother, I have both a Financial POA, and a MDPOA.

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · Dec 14, 2011

Here in California, it varies - with my late mom, we had a DPOA for financial (with me as the primary) and an Advance Healthcare Directive (with my sister as the primary). We each were listed as the alternate on the other's document, and it ended up being a comedy of errors when admission time came around - half the time I ended up being the main point of contact, half the time she did. The big issue seemed to be that the document that was actually NEEDED by the healthcare staff was the AHD, but what they would ASK for was the POA; and I had a heck of a time trying to get my sister to understand the distinction. When I handled the matter, they'd get the AHD; if she was asked, she'd point them at me and then I ended up being the decision maker. Technically, the hospital was in the clear either way, with a slight increase in risk when I handled the decision making (since I wasn't the primary - but she backed me up 100% of the time anyway) but it sure made for some fun times trying to determine who did what.

As far as can a DPOA be written up that has a single person listed as both - sure, but as a general rule (this according to the estate planning attorney we went with) it's typically split, both to split the workload and to address potential conflict of interest issues.

As always, I'm not an attorney, don't play one on TV, and couldn't be paid enough to stay at a Holiday Inn. :barf01:

----- Dave

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Dec 14, 2011

I have not heard of a POAH either. In Colorado, where I live, it is MDPOA-Medical Durable Power of Attorney.
For my mother, I have both a Financial POA, and a MDPOA.

Durable Medical Power of Attorney is essentially the same thing. :)

ClearBlueOctoberSky · Dec 14, 2011

Yeah, I figured...it has been one those brain-draining days. Sorry.

MunoRN, RN · Dec 14, 2011

It depends on the jurisdiction. In many areas, the POA refers to both financial and healthcare decision making rights, in others the POA does not confer the right to make healthcare decisions.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Dec 14, 2011

It depends on the jurisdiction. In many areas, the POA refers to both financial and healthcare decision making rights, in others the POA does not confer the right to make healthcare decisions.

Right- my main point is to know the paperwork...:)

Unless the POA specifically covers healthcare decisions, it is useless for medical decisions.