The terrible experience of one of our clients at the hands of a hospital team demonstrates why a Health and Welfare LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney) would have saved her husband from unnecessary suffering.
Helpless without Health and Welfare LPA
Mrs C came to Will Power after the death of her husband to discuss probate and told us some extraordinary stories about her experiences at the hospital.
Although Mrs C and her husband had prepared their wills with Will Power, they hadn’t put Health and Welfare Powers of Attorney in place.
Hospital disputes status as wife
When Mr C was admitted to hospital, Mrs C was aware of her husband’s wishes concerning his treatment, so she passed these on to the health team taking care of her husband.
Remarkably, the Consultant looking after her husband approached her and insisted that he could not follow Mrs C’s instructions because she was marked down as ‘partner’ in the hospital’s notes.
Mrs C. returned to the hospital with a Scottish marriage certificate, a ‘Proclamation of the Banns of Marriage‘, proving they were lawfully proclaimed and married. However, the hospital would not take Mrs C. seriously and ignored her wishes.
Powerless to decline treatment
Despite Mrs C.’s insistence to the contrary, the hospital contended that their notes showed Mr C was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and treated him with a Dopaminergic drug used to control the symptoms of the disease.
This treatment made Mr C extremely sick and Mrs C very distressed because she knew this was a colossal blunder.
It turned out that Mr C had a similar name to another patient, and the hospital had confused the notes.
Health and Welfare LPA grants legal decision-making rights
If, at the time, Mrs C had in place a Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney for her husband; she would have had the legal power to make decisions about his care.
With a Health and Welfare LPA, Mrs C would not have been powerless against the hospital’s unsafe decisions.
Contact us to find out how to quickly and easily put Lasting Powers of Attorney in place to legally appoint someone to look after your financial affairs, property, health and welfare and business should you lose capacity through illness or injury.
