Medical Malpractice Attorneys and Lawyers

What is medical power of attorney?

If I have medical power of attorney over my mom and her doctor requests tests but my mom refuses to take them, what recourse do I have? Can she be forced to take these tests?

Public Comments

1. If your mother has been deemed incompetent by 2 physicians, then the MPOA can make all medical decisions for the patient. Until she is deemed incompetent or is otherwise incapable of making decisions (like in a coma), she gets to make her own decisions.
2. This type of POA does give you the legal right to make decisions concerning her medical care. If she is still competent to make such decisions for herself, you may have a problem. I expect that may vary from state-to-stae or province-to-province - in my opinion (and I am not a lawyer but also have POA over my other).
3. The only way she can be forced is if she is declared legally not competent to make her own decisions. However, a regular medical power of attorney is null and void if the person is mentally unfit, you would need a durable medical power of attorney to make those decisions.(E.G.: Alzheimers patient.)
4. If she gave you power of attorney then you have the right to make her take those tests because you have overall power of her case.
5. Medical power of attorney as per my knowledge kicks in only if she is physically or mentally not capable of making sane decisions. Otherwise, this document is passive. As far as she is refusing with her being fully aware of what she is doing, you cannot use legal force on her. Of course, you can try coaxing her in other ways like letting her know of the benefits or that the tests are very painfree and is a matter of minutes or something. Hope it helps.
6. It is the power to make medical decisions for a patient when they are unable to do so for themselves. If your mom is unconcious and not of sound mind, you would have the power to make the medical decisions that she is uncapable of making at that time. As long as your mom is able to do so for herself, you have no legal grounds to make those decisions for her. You must honor her wishes. God bless you both and much luck.
7. I had "durable" pwr of atty that my mother had signed. It was notorized and filed with the county clerk. Being durable, it gave me the power over all her affairs, including medical. She had alzheimers. There is another type which limits the scope of a person's pwr of atty. I suppose you could force her to have tests, how is her mind?, how old is she?, are the tests necessary?, will the test results change her treatment options? These are questions you need to ask yourself, even if you do have the power to force her to take them. Very tough place to be. Been there. Best of luck.
8. What Bigsis says.