Posted: 5/29/2014 10:18:22 AM EDT
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I realize state laws vary, just looking to get a general answer at this point before I bother with a lawyer.
If I'm not mistaken, a typical medical POA only comes into play if the person is determined to be incapacitated. Correct? My wife will be undergoing a somewhat simple medical procedure sometime in the next few months. I have a feeling that doctors may try to perform additional procedures that are not necessary and are not wanted or authorized by my wife. She will be awake/alert and I will be accompanying her the entire time. However, she tends to be easily intimidated or pressured into things against her will. I will stand up for her, but I feel that once she is in the position of being intimidated she will give-in even though she doesn't want it and we've talked about it beforehand. Is there a way to write a medical POA or another document that gives me the authority to deny medical procedures on behalf of my wife even though she would legally be considered awake, alert, etc? Would localized aneathetics and general pain-killers (mild narcotics) be enough to invoke a medical POA that requires incapacitation? Clearly she may not be in her right mind under those drugs and may be more easily pressured. Thanks for any advice you can give. I just want to go into this prepared. Hopefully the doctors don't even try to pressure her into things she doesn't want, but if they do, I want some legal backing to be able to stand up for her and tell them she does not want that. At a minimum, if the do go against my wishes I may have the grounds of a malpractice suit if they cause additional complications trying to do a procedure we did not want, and I denied. |
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At a minimum, if the do go against my wishes I may have the grounds of a malpractice suit if they cause additional complications trying to do a procedure we did not want, and I denied. Short of a court-ordered guardianship, you can never - regardless of any POA - override her consent, should she give it. |
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Short of a court-ordered guardianship, you can never - regardless of any POA - override her consent, should she give it. Quoted:
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At a minimum, if the do go against my wishes I may have the grounds of a malpractice suit if they cause additional complications trying to do a procedure we did not want, and I denied. Short of a court-ordered guardianship, you can never - regardless of any POA - override her consent, should she give it. Even if she has stated beforehand that she wants me to be able to deny consent if they coerce her into something she doesn't want when she is in an altered state of mind there is no way at all? |
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If she was so drugged as to not be able to give informed consent, then your POA would be valid. Not otherwise.
And if they got her to agree while impaired, your only recourse would be a civil action in battery afterwards. But if you think that a doctor would try to obtain consent after she's impaired rather than before, you need to find another doctor rather than worry about POA's. |
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If she was so drugged as to not be able to give informed consent, then your POA would be valid. Not otherwise. And if they got her to agree while impaired, your only recourse would be a civil action in battery afterwards. But if you think that a doctor would try to obtain consent after she's impaired rather than before, you need to find another doctor rather than worry about POA's. Is there something that would permit me to deny if she remains silent? IE, the doctor says, "now we're going to do x", she says nothing and makes not consent but I say, "We do not consent to that, we told you up front, and I am telling you now" FWIW, the thing I'm concerned about is that X is normally a part of the overall procedure but it's possible to go through it and not have x done if you flat out demand that it's not performed. I just want to go into it fully prepared to deny it on account of my wife. |
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I realize state laws vary, just looking to get a general answer at this point before I bother with a lawyer. If I'm not mistaken, a typical medical POA only comes into play if the person is determined to be incapacitated. Correct? My wife will be undergoing a somewhat simple medical procedure sometime in the next few months. I have a feeling that doctors may try to perform additional procedures that are not necessary and are not wanted or authorized by my wife. She will be awake/alert and I will be accompanying her the entire time. However, she tends to be easily intimidated or pressured into things against her will. I will stand up for her, but I feel that once she is in the position of being intimidated she will give-in even though she doesn't want it and we've talked about it beforehand. Is there a way to write a medical POA or another document that gives me the authority to deny medical procedures on behalf of my wife even though she would legally be considered awake, alert, etc? Would localized aneathetics and general pain-killers (mild narcotics) be enough to invoke a medical POA that requires incapacitation? Clearly she may not be in her right mind under those drugs and may be more easily pressured. Thanks for any advice you can give. I just want to go into this prepared. Hopefully the doctors don't even try to pressure her into things she doesn't want, but if they do, I want some legal backing to be able to stand up for her and tell them she does not want that. At a minimum, if the do go against my wishes I may have the grounds of a malpractice suit if they cause additional complications trying to do a procedure we did not want, and I denied. If what you say is true you don't need a POA you and your wife need different doctors |
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It's not that simple... I'm being intentionally vague here because this is a private matter... but suffice it to say that a different doctor won't help any... Quoted:
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If what you say is true you don't need a POA you and your wife need different doctors It's not that simple... I'm being intentionally vague here because this is a private matter... but suffice it to say that a different doctor won't help any... I respect persec and all, but if you're THAT worried that the doc is going to try to upsell your wife on something (to the point of being pushy about it), then something's amiss. If you and your wife have talked about it and she understands why she needs to say "no" (IF the docs try to upsell you), then you're just gonna have to try to cross your fingers that it's enough. You said you'll be in the room with her the entire time, so IF the docs try to pull something you can remind your wife that you two agreed she'd say no. Do you know what kind of meds they're going to put her on for the procedure? Has she ever been on them before? If so, how "out of it" did she get? Unless I"m mistaken, a local anesthetic is just a numbing agent used at a particular area (like what the dentist uses, your mouth gets numb but the rest of your body and your mental faculties are 100% intact) so that shouldn't affect her judgment. What makes you think the doc is going to drug her up and try to get her to agree to more procedures while drugged? |
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This whole post is just, well, weird. Power of Attorney is to appoint someone to speak for you when you're incapable of speaking (or acting) for yourself. As long as you're capable, POA doesn't have any bearing. Having said that, your wife's situation seems a bit odd. Why do you have the "feeling that doctors may try to perform additional procedures that are not necessary and are not wanted or authorized"? As a physician, there are an extremely small number of situations where I would do a procedure against someone's wishes. Doing a procedure (or even an exam) on someone without their consent is assault. A surgical procedure would constitute aggravated assault, you'd have a heckuva malpractice case, the physician would lose their license, and they'd likely go to jail. Now, a surgeon will often have language in their consent form authorizing them to address any surprises that they might find at surgery. For example, you might be going in for urgent surgery for appendicitis. When the surgeon gets in there, he finds that you actually have a big, obstructing colon cancer that's caused your appendicitis. You would trust and expect that surgeon to do the right thing when he found that. In this case, you'd probably want him to take out the cancer, even though that wasn't exactly what you had agreed to prior to surgery. But, this isn't an urgent case for your wife. Since that's the case, I'd strongly recommend that you get a second opinion. If a patient doesn't trust my judgment and recommendations, there's no way I want to do surgery on them. Are you worried they're going to do a tubal ligation at the time of a C/Section? I've done C/Sections where the woman wasn't planning on a tubal ligation, but when we got in there, she said, "You know, while you're there, why don't you do the tubal as well." (The patients have an epidural or spinal so they're awake.) Even though you could argue that they were competent to make the decision, I would NEVER do that tubal. She's in the middle of surgery, under stress, possibly pain, etc. That's not an informed decision. If someone is under ANY anesthesia, you can't get consent from them to do anything. That's where you'd have to get it from the POA. And that's only for something emergent, like it has to be treated RIGHT NOW! That tubal ligation example can wait until she has time to think about it. I understand the need for PERSEC and all, but a few more details could certainly help. (This is just general medical information. This doesn't pertain specifically to your wife or anyone else. Please consult your own doctor(s)). |
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She should make her wishes known on the consent form and specifically tell the surgeon verbally "I do not consent to X".
On the consent form, she should cross out any language she does not agree to. Write in anything she wants. Problem solved. 
BTW, it sounds more like you have 'down sold' her on the procedure. It appears that she may be considering it and you are trying to force your wishes on her. Just reading between the lines. 
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