Is a health lasting power of attorney worth it?

[Groomofthestool]

Hi all

I have the financial loos but am now wondering if I need the health one.

DM75 is severely ill with MS. The lpoa has been a godsend to sell her house and manage all finance etc without bothering her and stressing her out. Do you all have the health one too? Can you advise me if it is worth it to apply for and how it has helped? I would be the only attorney as only surviving relative. I would need to move fast as she is classed as having capacity now but I can't see how that classification can last much longer really

Thanks

Lpoa not loos!

I found it useful when mum was in hospital and it was decided she needed to go into a care home as she had dementia and wasn’t safe to live at home anymore.

The fact that I had LPOA for health and welfare meant I could pick the home that was best for her, rather than her just being discharged into where there was a vacancy.
It bought me time to check the homes out and decide which one suited her needs the best. Invaluable in that situation!!

I would say yes. Being without it has been one of the things that has made my mum's severe stroke and subsequent life a living nightmare, and everything she always said verbally that she didn't want.

The only thing that makes it even faintly bearable is that I asked her repeatedly to do it and she decided against, despite being happy to go for the financial one. It was her choice to do that. I tried to explain the consequences to her and she took her own view. So be it.

Definitely sort it ASAP. It takes a while to be processed.

Husband's family very stressed that decisions are being made about FIL without their input. It is taking ages for the paperwork to come through so they can make decisions that they know he would want.

Yes. But I was the unmarried ‘daughter-in-law’ iyswim. So it made everyone responsible/involved in mil health a lot happier and easier about discussing health matters with me and them trusting what I was saying was actually going in health wise. (I held both poas). Made getting her into a care home a lot easier too.

Do it.
I worked in care and it really does make things so much easier. It allows you to be the person they speak to regarding results etc, you to be involved in deciding on the best options for treatment and to be kept fully updated on any hospital stays.

We have neither type of POA (Mum didn't set it up, despite the subject being broached on more than one occasion) & whilst it's a total pita for the finances, meaning we now have to apply for Deputyship at great expense and a more complex process, the Health side has been fairly straightforward.

The hospital have included us in all discussions, care home choice, etc so we haven't had any problems with not having a Health POA.

That said, I would still advise you get one done!

I’ve held both health and financial POA’s for three elderly relatives.
The financial one is essential, and things would be virtually impossible without it.
The health one, I haven’t found much use in our circumstances. Everyone maintained their marbles enough that they were considered capable of making their own choices. And in reality, Drs made any decisions after chatting with family. But i can see if suffering from raging dementia for years, it may have been of more benefit.

@user14699084658

Yep, things are virtually impossible without it, you're not wrong!

You absolutely should have it. I can't stress that enough working in this field every single day. Just do it, it'll cost less than £100, why wouldn't you?

Yes, I needed to provide one when my dad was admitted to a care home. It has also been helpful with getting information on his treatment by the hospital/specialist nurse.

My letter to Metro newspaper this year.

And its follow up, by someone else who suggested you add another family member if it risks a falling out.

After seven Surrey care homes for my now late mother, it's the one advice I would give to anyone, and it's a defensive measure. If you don't have it, the State is the decision maker for your parent's care, not you, at a time when your parent is deemed to have lost mental capacity, and that is a nebulous area.

Things can get very, very nasty indeed. To give a mild insight, the newspaper would not even print my home town on the letter, presumably for fear of being sued by the hospital mentioned, in the same way that the media reporting on the poor teenager denied treatment abroad and who died recently will not dare mention the NHS Trust that made the decision.

@NewspaperTaxis

I'm wondering if your father was in the same Surrey hospital my mother was in last year.
I was so relieved when we got her out of there & even more relieved that she never went back.
It had a good reputation in its day according to some retired nurses I know but it's awful now.

The Health POA gave me so much more legal clout with the doctors than just being next of kin.

Yes, get one.

We had the old style one for DM, no separate H&W, but dh and I have taken out both types for ourselves. In the event, despite many years of dementia, we didn’t need it for DM, thank goodness - nobody questioned what we thought right for her at any time.

There is space to add your own wishes in the event of your health and/or marbles deteriorating, so we’ve both made our wishes very clear with regard to no ‘striving to keep alive’ in stated circumstances.

My parents are 75 and 76 and we have just done both LPOA for both of them with both myself and my brother on each one..

I did it all online through the Gov website, it costs £81 per LPOA, and if their income is under a certain amount (around £12K), then they can get it for half price.

They are still involved in the family business, and my dad has had several health issues lately, so it really made us realise "what if"... and it was time to get them done. The accountant had already advised it a couple of years ago.

It was Epsom General Hospital's AMU Ward - Acute Medical Unit, though I prefer to think it stood for Attempted Murder Underway!

I've only praise for the Hospital's A&E and Majors - they were excellent, as are the paramedics generally. Hence we let our guard down a bit slightly when a doctor moved Dad to the AMU for what was meant to be a short time. The AMU has the vibe of a care home - not a good thing at all if you've experienced them in Surrey! It can't be like that all the time though - funnily, the noticeboard had a thank you note from me pinned to it, with a picture of Dad drinking a pint, from the last time he was in - two or three years ago! Of course, then you wonder, do all their thank you notes date back to that time?

The AMU seems to specialise in 'managed decline', as in 'Oh, so sorry, your parent has deteriorated, only a care home is suitable for them now - Ker-ching!' or 'Oh, so sorry, decline can be very quick at that age, palliative care is the only option...'

The ward is on the 5th floor - we had the same odd problem with Mum getting any drink on the adjacent Northey Suite back in the spring of 2014, even though it was private and we were paying, or the insurance company was. Again, things got very nasty and the issue of LPA in Health and Welfare was raised to assert control - but with her we didn't have it. We did get her out however and she lasted another three and a half years.