Providing Your Elder with Legal Assistance Three Healthcare Documents Every Senior Should Have

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by: Tehila Mörtl

Arranging senior legal assistance for your elder, in regards to healthcare, is important not only to them but you as well.  The law which protects each individual’s rights regarding healthcare privacy under the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).  Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the way this law is written there are extremely strict guidelines on who is allowed access to medical related conversations and decisions.  In order to ensure both caregiver and senior legal help with health related issues, Advise & Protect Senior Care Consultants offers information on the following three legal documents.

First, have a HIPPA Authorization in place.  This brief, simple document allows medical providers to share information with designated family member(s) and/or loved one(s).  Most physician’s offices have this document on hand for patient to complete and sign. 

Next, every senior should establish a Health Care Proxy, also known as a Medical Power of Attorney, which will enable his or her dedicated loved one to ensure an elders medical care decisions are carried out in accordance to their wishes.  When selecting a health care proxy, ensure they are made aware of your elder’s wishes regarding life support, intravenous fluids, feeding tube and any other life prolonging treatment.

To avoid complications or misunderstandings of one’s wishes, an Advance Health Care Directive is required.  Also known as a Living Will, an Advance Health Care Directive allows one to make their own decisions regarding end of life.  Included in this document should be instructions regarding:

·  Preferred medical care and treatment and under what circumstances

·  Whether a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) is in place

·  Tube feeding

·  IV fluids

·  Artificial life support

·  Respiratory assistance

We, at Advise & Protect Senior Care Consultants, highly recommend that caregivers arrange for legal help to ensure the above documents are in place prior to an emergency.  We are happy to assist by providing a referral to an experienced, knowledgeable and caring attorney at law.  When consulting an attorney specializing in elder law he or she will prepare these items and provide advice on additional planning tools, depending on your elder's circumstances.  Otherwise, if worse came to worse, you as the caregiver not only could have to endure a long and costly process of establishing guardianship but as the caregiver, you could be left with making heart wrenching decisions on your own.

Thank you for visiting Advise & Protect Senior Care Consultants and joining in our discussion on the three most important healthcare documents for elders.  Should you have the need in securing an elder law attorney, please know that we pride ourselves in keeping a database of the most qualified, experienced and compassionate service providers offering such as senior legal assistance, real estate, senior moving, etc.  Meanwhile, please remember that we offer many services FREE of charge so, should you have any questions, we encourage you to give us a call at 646-820-9202 and speak with one of our Senior Care Consultants. They will be able to answer any questions you might have to begin the process of providing whatever assistance you might need. 

Should you have an experience with the documents discussed today that will be of assistance to our other readers and would like to share, please contact us directly.

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