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My sister has POA over my father who is currently hospitalized. My brother has been calling the nurses station from out of state for medical updates until recently when she pulled the POA card and told the nurses no mas. Is it legal for her to do this??

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Excellent feedback. Very helpful. TY to all for taking the time. Babalou has hit the nail on the head. There are some signifigant underlying sibling issues way too complicated and personal to get into. Sis has lived with mom and dad her whole life. Mom passed 5 years ago. Dad is rapidly declining and she is having alot of difficulty in "letting go" which is understandable to a degree since her life has revolved around mom and dad. Sis has an obsession with being in control which started when mom was originally hospitalized. My brother and I are trying to focus on what's best for dad at this stage of his life. There have been many instances where sis tells us one thing about medical issues and we find out that her versuon is a spin on what is actually happening. This is the main reason why my brother decided to start calling for direct unbiased medical updates. My sister took this as her losing control by him trying to undercut her. He's 1000 miles away and was only hoping to get uncensored medical updates. A sad mess....
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Just a suggestion; if my family, we all three of us hold medical poa, so that any one of us can talk to the staff. However, my brothers and I have made me "point person " so that the staff only has to explain once. I try to gather concerns from the group (including my sister in law) and ask their questions for them. It sounds as thought there is some unresolved family/sibling thing underlying this.
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You know, it's very difficult for the staff if more than one person is asking to be given information. It takes time, something most hospital staff don't have a lot of. Most families manage to figure out who their most able consumer of medical information is and have that person get the information and convey it to thevfamily. Perhaps you are thinking that your sister doesn't have the medical know how to do this? What sort of "spin" do you believe she's giving to the information?
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Is she named (unusally in a healthcare directive) as the medical POA, as well as the financial POA?

What kind of a "spin" does she want to put on it?

Can your out-of-state brother talk to your dad directly? If dad is "in his right mind" he can override the POA's orders and tell the nursing station to talk to you. If dad is not competent or agrees that he wants all messages to go through his POA daughter, then that pretty much is how it has to be.
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Well, just trying to be as objective as possible - what can happen is that a nurse or doctor communicates with one person and thinks that they will tell everyone else - maybe your sister is doing it this way because she has missed getting important information; or maybe she wants brother to come and SEE mom instead of just call in. Do you have reason to think there are "bad" reasons sis wants it done this way?
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She's not witholding info. As I said she has instructed the nurse to not give my brother updates when he calls in....she wants the updates to come from her after she puts her spin on it.
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A medical Power of Attorney is only used if the patient is unable to think for himself. If your Dad is of sound mind, he can add your brother's name to the HIPAA form which will allow the doctors/nurses to give your brother updates.
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As long as your sister has POA for medical she is legally within her rights. Is she withholding information grom the family on your father's condition?
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