As parents, we are accustomed to taking care of and making decisions for our children. When they turn 18 and are ready to head off to college, we are proud to see them becoming young adults but we still see them as our child and our responsibility. It often comes as a frightening surprise to some parents that they may be unable to help their college-age child in the event of a medical emergency.
This was the hard lesson learned for one estate planning attorney who was contacted by her 18-year-old son’s roommate at the University of Michigan and told that her son was being rushed to an emergency room with severe chest pain. When she called the hospital she was told that she had no right to speak with her son’s doctor or receive any information concerning her son’s medical condition.
HIPAA and Your College-Aged Child and Medical Emergency
There are many circumstances when a healthcare provider may not share their patient’s health information and this includes sharing it with the patient’s parents when they are legal adults. Helping your college-age child during a medical emergency may mean that you need to navigate the restrictions imposed upon health care providers by the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Generally, HIPAA limits the persons with whom and circumstances when a patient’s information may be shared. Information may be shared at any time and with anyone when a patient consents to it being shared. Trouble arises when the patient is not able to provide consent.
HIPAA Waiver and Healthcare Power of Attorney
When your child reaches 18 years of age, we recommend putting a basic estate plan in place. Among the documents that they will need are a HIPAA Waiver and a Healthcare Power of Attorney. The HIPAA waiver specifically authorized healthcare providers to share information with designated persons. Presumably, your child will want their doctor to share information with you you as there parents. This waiver can be limited or restricted to the extent they prefer to keep certain information private.
A Healthcare Power of Attorney authorizes designated persons to make decisions about proposed medical care when your adult child is not able to make those decisions for themselves. Typically, your college-aged child will want their parents to have the authority to make decisions that they feel are in their best interest.
The College Student Estate Plan
The typical college student does not possess much in the way of assets. This makes it easy to overlook their estate planning needs. When your child turns 18, it is an opportunity to introduce them to responsible legal life planning activities and set them on a course of establishing a solid foundation for their future life.
Our College Student Estate Plan is intended to serve the needs of the typical student who does not currently have a lot of assets but has a bright future ahead of them. We focus on putting the legal structures in place so that those who love them can help in an emergency. A 3-year plan review cycle is implemented at no additional cost, to ensure that their plan evolves with them.
Attend our next online presentation and learn more about the College Student Estate Plan!
