Mark Handelman

OBA 2009 INSTITUTE Trusts & Estates Law
Will-ful and Wantin’: Estate Practice in the First Half of the 21st Century

POWERS OF ATTORNEY FOR PERSONAL CARE: FRIES WITH THAT WILL?
By Mark Handelman, BA, LLB, MHSc (bioethics)

INTRODUCTION

A Power of Attorney for Personal Care may be the most important document you put in front of your client.

The decisions your client entrusts to Attorneys are crucial to his or her dignity, liberty, security and well being at a time when the client may not be able to assert his or her own rights. A Power of Attorney for Personal Care authorizes the named Attorney or Attorneys to make decisions about admission to a care facility, about treatment of chronic or acute medical conditions and about whether or not the Donor should be physically restrained for his or her protection or the protection of others. It may also contain instructions about whether or not to begin, discontinue or not provide treatments that will continue life in the end stages of terminal illness.

However, too frequently, the Power of Attorney for Personal Care is an afterthought document, added to the will and Power of Attorney for Property package without serious discussion between lawyer and client between client and proposed Attorneys.

This paper provides an overview of Powers of Attorney for Personal Care and addresses some of their inherent pitfalls.

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