Are safety issues covered by a healthcare power of attorney?
Mom gave my brother and I health care power of attorney. Her new husband is a bad driver. She even said she was scared last time she rode with him. Would "her safety", considering his bad driving, be covered under her health care power of attorney? In other words, would her safety, be considered a health care issue?
Expert Answer
Interesting and novel question. Would your (and your brother's) authority under your mother's health care power of attorney allow you to enforce concerns about her safety by preventing her from riding with her new husband? I doubt if there is any legal authority on this question. However, I'll say that it surely seems a reach for you and your brother to have that authority. First of all, unsafe driving by a spouse is far, very far, from the usual matters covered by a health care power of attorney"”matters like hospital care, doctors' treatments, medication and the like. Secondly, how could you enforce this authority, even assuming you could have it? Clearly you have no authority over your mother's new husband. If she continues to ride with him, what could you do to her? Order her to cease riding with him? And if she ignores that order, then what? Finally, remember that your mother has the power to revoke her durable power of attorney for health care at any time, or to limit it to certain specific matters.
I suggest that your wisest approach here would not be an attempt to rely on legal authority, but to use persuasion. What do you propose your mother should do if she choses not to ride with her new husband? Is that a solution she's willing to accept? How could it be made acceptable to her?
It remains true, for better or worse, that there is not a legal remedy for every difficult situation in life. This seems to be one of those instances.