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The power of a Medical Power of Attorney (MPOA)...
The Medical Power of Attorney (MPOA) is often an item I overlook when discussing being a caretaker. My partner and I are lucky that our friend works in the legal field and told us to both get these forms filled-out, witnessed, notarized, and signed. This form prohibits the hospital from denying me access to him, since we are not married and a same-sex couple. This issue can be experienced by anyone who is not married to the person they are caring for. This proved to be so unbelievably vital to my access and ability to take care of my partner the way he had outlined to me in the event he was incapacitated. The latter did happen multiple times and I am so grateful we had these fully executed MPOAs. I made a minimum of forty copies of the signed, witnessed, and notarized forms. I used all forty in two hospital visits and had to make more in the hospital to cover the last half of the second visit. Hospitals are a bureaucracy, and every single department, specialized unit, and administrator wants multiple copies. So be sure to print out a lot of copies and have them with you. I basically had a caretaker/care partner backpack pre-loaded with all I need for hospital visits: Pens, notebooks, phone charger cables and independent battery, snacks, clean shirt, clean undies, toiletries bag, all insurance information, medical power of attorneys for both Daniel and I, inflatable neck pillow, my medications, a bottle of water, a re-fillable stainless steel water bottle, and all forms of Daniel's Identification materials and mine. I came to truly appreciate having a go bag. I hope this wisdom is helpful to you.
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This is such an important piece to the care giving puzzle!
Thank you so much fr your support and explanation AnneMarieSDBC! I hope this can help both patients and caregivers alike to be truly prepared for the experience of hospital bureaucracies.
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Yay! Thank you for your support and thumbs-up YSarrabo!