Monday, April 30, 2007

Case of the Week 4/20/07

Client's Age: 82
County: Pocahontas

Client is a nursing home resident whose physician has determined he lacks the capacity to make his own healthcare decisions. His estranged wife has Medical Power of Attorney for him, he is considering divorce, and he doesn't want her to have that authority anymore. We explained to C that divorce would automatically legally revoke her authority for him under the MPOA, and in the mean time if his physician determines that he has the capacity to at least choose his medical decisionmaker, he could revoke the MPOA and execute a new one. Or if the physician determined the estranged wife were incapable of properly acting as his MPOA representative, he could appoint a healthcare surrogate for client.

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