just news
INSURANCE
AGENCY.
INC.
What gives you the right?
A Power of Attorney for Health Care allows a person to
designate another to make health care decisions on his or her
behalf during periods of incapability
BY
D O N N A
M E Y E R
f you can’t make health care decisions for
yourself, who decides for you?
You are in a coma, like Sharon Kowalski
immediately after her car accident, or you
have AIDS and are delirious from fever. Your
parents from Baton Rouge, to whom you are
not “out” and only see on holidays, are by
your side within 12 hours of the telephone call
from your “roommate.” Thank God, thinks the
doctor, someone with the authority to make
decisions. The “roommate” has been a real
pain in the ass, asking questions, requesting
medical records, trying to discuss alternative
treatments.
But now with the parents on the scene, the
“roommate” is no longer seen or
acknowledged by the doctor. So your lover
gets strident, and demands the right to
participate in making decisions.
Faces turn. “Who are you?” barks your
dad. “What gives you the right?” demands
your mother. They mean well.
“Well,” your lover stammers, “Our
relationship, I mean, we have been living
together for seven years...I know him/her
better than anyone else does...what s/he would
want...”
Is this scenario among your top 10 worst
fears? What? You say you don’t want to talk
about it? It is an emotional bag of worms, and
the personal issues are complex. Many gays
and lesbians have been forced to face these
issues head-on, and have had some personal
success. But in a homophobic society,
personal solutions are not always enough, and
it helps to have legal backup. The Oregon
Legislature recently passed a law which will
give your lover, or other trusted friend, an
answer to the question: What gives you the
right? Beginning October 3, s/he can hand
the doctor a document headed Power o f
Attorney fo r Health Care.
Simply stated, a Power of Attorney for
Health Care allows you to designate someone
else to make health care decisions on your
behalf during periods of time when you are
“incapable.” For purposes of this law,
“incapable” means that a person’s ability to
receive and evaluate information effectively
or to communicate decisions is impaired to
such an extent that the person presently lacks
the capacity to make his/her own health care
decisions. The person you appoint, called an
“attomey-in-fact,” has authority to make
decisions on your behalf only when you are
unable to make your own. But during the time
that you are “incapable” the person you have
appointed has a priority over any other person
to make health care decisions. The attomey-
in-fact also has the same right as you do to
receive information regarding the proposed
health care, receive and review medical
records, and to consent to the disclosure of
medical records. Last, the law allows you to
name an alternate attomey-in-fact in case the
I
first person appointed is unable or unwilling
to act on your behalf.
What is a health care decision? It includes
not only consent to health care but refusal of
consent or withdrawal of consent. This is
clarified further with the definition of “health
care" as “treatment or care to cure or
ameliorate the effects of disease, injury and
degenerative conditions...” This definition of
health care is broader than the traditional
concept of “medical care,” and encompasses a
broad range of personal care and rehabilitative
decisions.
There are guidelines that the attomey-in-
fact must follow. The person you appoint has
the duty to act consistently with your desires
to the extent that they are known. Only if your
desires are not known may the attomey-in-fact
make decisions based on what s/he indivi
dually and in good faith believes to be in your
best interest.
A Power of Attorney for Health Care must
follow a form prescribed in the law. In
addition to appointment of the attomey-in-fact
and an alternate, the form allows space for
you to give specific instructions regarding
your wishes. The form also allows you to give
your attomey-in-fact the authority to make
decisions regarding (a) withholding or
withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures with
the understanding that death may result; (b)
withholding or withdrawal of artificially
administered hydration or nutrition or both
with the understanding that dehydration,
malnutrition and death may result. Either or
both of these options may be chosen by
checking the appropriate place on the form.
An attomey-in-fact does not have the
authority to make these types of decisions
unless the option is explicitly chosen by you.
What if you have a falling out with the
person you appointed? You may revoke your
Power of Attorney for Health Care, so long as
you are “capable” at the time that you revoke
it. A Power of Attorney for Health Care
continues in effect for a period of seven years
unless you become unable to participate in
your own health care decisions during that
time, at which point it will continue until you
are able to participate in those decisions again.
The underlying premise of the new law is
self-determination and autonomy in health
care decision-making. A person’s right to
privacy has long been interpreted by the
courts to include the right to make one’s own
decisions regarding what shall be done with
his/her own body (abortion rights now being
subject to some exceptions). The new law is a
step toward extending that right by allowing
us to make our own decisions regarding who
will speak and act on our behalf if we aren’t
able to communicate for ourselves. Next time
your roommate doesn’t have to stammer.
Donna Meyer is an attorney in private
practice in Portland.
Bridget I. Downey
P.O.Box 40626
P o rtla n d . O R 9 7 2 4 0
61 0 S.W. B ro a d w a y , #408
(503) 228-8327
AGATHA PET SERVICES
ln-Your-Home Pet Sitting
• Ever worried about boarding out your pet?
• Ever wished you knew someone trustworthy to
care for four pet at home, instead of leaving
him/her in a foreign environment?
• Ever had to travel out of town unexpectedly?
• Ever cut short a visit to return home to care for
your pet ?
AGATHA PET SERVICES is licensed to
provide care fo r your pet in your home.
AGATHA PET SERVICES is available 24
hours a day, 7 days a week.
AGATHA PET SERVICES is convenient.
NATURAL FIBRE CLOTHING
AGATHA PET SERVICES
In-Your-Home Pet Sitting
775-3766
..... «.................. . ......................... ».............. «
54 SW2nd ■ 228-1693 ■ Mon -Sat 10-7 ■ Fn till 9 ■ bun 10-6
1
Right to Privacy
Political Action Committee
V ili
,\N N L ArL
d in n e r
S A T U R D A Y , OCTOBER 7, 1 9 8 9
Hilton Hotel, Portland, Oregon
Keynote Speaker
, C O N G R E S S M A N GERRY E. STUDDS
lVinocrat.
Massachusetts
Hot uckct reservation, » « £
•ductible as allowed)
ills *:<><> I’ M -
r follow mu
lte option-1'-
just out T 11 T October 1969