Weekly Scenario

Steven E. Shane, Esq. | © 2014 Offit Kurman, Attorneys At Law | Used by permission                                

Question:  My son lives across the country but is my health care agent.  He has a copy of my advance medical directive.  I’m concerned that if I am admitted to the hospital suddenly, or there is a medical crisis, he may not be able to quickly deal with the situation.

Answer:  An advance medical directive gives instructions as to the type of medical care you would like to receive in the event you cannot express those wishes yourself.  The document can also give another person the ability to make medical decisions for you.

The document, however, is not helpful if it is locked away at the bank or in your attorney’s office.  One solution [for dealing with this problem] is with a new app called “My Health Care Wishes.” This app allows one to import and store important health care documents on a smartphone so they are accessible when needed.

So in this scenario, your son could keep the information on his smartphone.  If there were an emergency, you would have a “My Health Care Wishes” wallet card stating your son has your medical proxy documents.  He would access and send that document quickly, and then have the authority to speak with the medical facility and make decisions.

Two other apps available are DocuBank and MyDirectives.  I have also seen articles which advise using a phone or tablet to simply store documents in a cloud-based storage system.

Comment:  One issue to be wary of is the security of these legal documents.  My hope is that these apps have worked on the security issues, but I can’t comment on whether that has actually taken place.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to learn more, please let me know.

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Please note the above material discussed is intended to provide only general information.  Do not, under any circumstances, solely rely on this information as legal advice. Legal matters are often complicated.  For assistance with your specific legal problem or inquiry please contact me directly.