Your Medical Decision’s In the Wrong Hands: Updating Your Medical Power of Attorney During Divorce

When it comes to estate planning, making sure that you have a Medical Power of Attorney who has the authority to make decisions regarding care and/or life support is extremely important. What is even more important is making sure that you keep that document updated. A recent story was relayed to me in that a husband and wife had named each other as Medical Powers of Attorney. The couple filed for divorce and neither party updated their Medical Powers of Attorney. During the course of the divorce the wife became extremely ill and was placed on life support. The doctors turned to the soon-to-be ex-husband to discuss her medical condition and/or to get permission with regard to her care. Apparently, the doctors had told the husband that there were some procedures that they could use to try and save her, but the husband indicated that she would not want to be kept on life support and told the doctors they should remove her from life support. Obviously giving your soon-to-be ex-husband the power to make these kind of decisions for you is probably not the best idea. Having said that, it is important that you review and update your Medical Power of Attorney to make sure that the person that you have designated is still the right person for the job.