Sending a child off to college comes with its fair share of concerns. One worry that’s been added to the list for parents is health care emergencies involving students who are at a distant school.
Picture this situation: Your child is away at college and gets into a car accident, ending up in the hospital, unconscious. That bad situation could get even worse. We had a client last year who could not find out which hospital their child had been transported to during a medical emergency or they couldn’t get updates on their child’s condition.
With today’s adherence to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act – otherwise known as HIPAA – if a student who is 18 years of age or older faces an emergency at college, the parents might not know. Basically, when a person turns 18, the parents lose access to their medical care, even if the child is still on a parent’s health insurance plan.
It’s comforting to know that your child’s college probably has a plan for emergencies, and you would like to think the college will notify you, but if a serious accident occurs off college grounds, it might be impossible to put all those pieces together.
There are three simple yet critical legal documents that we recommend and, as a mother of one college graduate and one current college student, I have implemented them for my daughters.
HIPAA release. With this document, you’ll have access to crucial medical information, to be informed and supportive in case of an accident. Your college-age students can navigate some patient privacy provisions. For instance, keeping mental and sexual health from being shared while still allowing you to have essential insights into their well-being. Without the HIPAA authorization, parents have no legal right to obtain medical information about a child over 18.
Health care power of attorney. No one wants to think about the need to designate a trusted individual to make important medical decisions for your child if they’re unable to communicate their wishes. It’s daunting and a bit overwhelming. But we have seen many cases where a young, healthy child has needed that kind of decision-making, and these decisions are generally best handled by the parents who know the child’s medical history.
General durable power of attorney. A durable power of attorney ensures that you can handle financial and other matters on behalf of your child when they’re unable to do so. While we don’t normally think of our college students as financially self-sufficient, there are often financial and practical matters that require attention when a child faces unexpected challenges. This document offers a vital safety net in such situations.
While college is certainly a major concern at this time of year as we look to secure both a child’s future and a parent’s peace of mind, we know that children living away, not necessarily at college, might also benefit from implementing these legal documents.
In fact, we recently learned of a Rhode Island client whose healthy and athletic 20-something daughter experienced a life-threatening blood clot in her lung while living in the Midwest. She fainted outside her apartment, was found by a stranger and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Luckily, she regained consciousness long enough to give her doctors the go-ahead to consult with her parents via phone. It’s important to note that, legally, some doctors and hospitals might not be comfortable with mere verbal permission.
Implementing these three legal documents may cause some apprehension during the process and decision-making but, in the long run, they take worries off the table and allow the focus of the child’s college journey to remain on growth and exploration.
Kristen Prull Moonan is a partner at the Providence law firm Moonan | Stratton, focusing on trusts, estates and elder law. She also works with businesses on transactional, real estate and other legal matters for businesses and individuals.
