Your passports are ready, you have reserved a room with a beautiful ocean view, packed your favorite clothes and painstakingly written out instructions for the person caring for your kids listing all their activities, favorite foods, bedtimes and rules – is there anything you have forgotten?
What will happen if one of your children is injured and needs medical treatment while you and your spouse are far away?
Do you have a document authorizing your children’s temporary caretaker to make medical decisions and authorize medical treatment on their behalf?
Hopefully this is a document which will never need to be used, however it can give your great peace of mind to know it exists and that if an unfortunate situation does arise, your children will be in capable hands.
If you have not executed such a Medical Power of Attorney or Permission to Treat Document, your children may face the situation where proper and complete medical treatment cannot be provided without authorization of a parent. Until the hospital is able to get in touch with you, the hospital will only provide absolutely necessary care and not optimal care which could be provided with proper authority.
This document can be a specific one time authorization for a fixed period of time or can be a blanket authorization that will stand whenever you are not available.
It is advisable to have a permanent authorization appointing a nearby friend or relative that is in place at all times in case you are even just across town and can’t be reached and you may want to do a second case-specific authorization for a one time event where your kids are staying with another family while you or they are on a trip.
This is a simple document which can be prepared by a competent attorney for a small fee. And of course your peace of mind is priceless – especially while on vacation!
Taylor, Taylor & Taylor, Inc. is a family law firm located at 11213 Nuckols Rd. Suite E in the Twin Hickory office park between the YMCA and Sunburst. Call us at 804-266-9619 and KnowDifferent for $50 off a fixed fee or fee-based work.