Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA's) at Affordable Prices across North & East London plus Essex & Hertfordshire
Lasting Power of Attorney - 'Health and Welfare'
A Health and Welfare LPA is a legal document that allows a person (known as a Donor)
to choose someone they trust (known as an Attorney) to make decisions on their behalf about their health and personal welfare; this does not include decisions about money or property. It can only be used when the Donor lacks the capacity to make these decisions for themselves.An LPA enables someone to plan in advance the decisions and actions they might want taken on their behalf at a time when they do not have capacity. Using a Health and Welfare LPA people can choose someone they trust to make decisions about their personal welfare, on their behalf, for a time in the future when they might not have the capacity to make them for themselves, for example due to the onset of dementia or as a result of a brain injury. This can include decisions regarding where someone lives or what medical treatment they receive.
What will a Health and Welfare LPA let the person I have chosen do on my behalf? This will depend on the powers that you give them when making your LPA. The person will only be able to make decisions that are in your best interests and these may include significant decisions such as:
• deciding where your permanent place of residence should be;
• deciding what care and accommodation may be appropriate for you;
• consenting to any medical treatment or procedure or therapy of whatever nature for your benefit and providing access for that, or refusing such consent;
• deciding, alone or with others, on the level of care which you may require;
• making decisions about your dress, diet and personal appearance as appropriate;
• choosing your social and cultural activities;
• arranging for you to undertake work, education or training;
• taking you on holiday or authorising someone else to do so;
• consenting to you being involved in certain types of research that meets the strict rules set out by the Act.
You may wish to include a condition that your Attorney must act in a certain way or include restrictions preventing your Attorney(s) from specifically making some of the decisions listed above. It's important when making your LPA that you are satisfied that you have given your chosen Attorney(s) the right powers to enable them to make the decisions you want made about your health and personal welfare in the future should you lack the capacity to make them yourself.
Will my Attorney(s) be able to use my LPA to access personal information about me? There may be times when carrying out their duties that your Attorney needs to access personal information about you, for example from a doctor, a bank or solicitor, to help them make a decision that is in your best interests. Most of this information will be personal information about you and much of it will be sensitive and/or confidential.
Provided they are acting within the powers you have given them in the LPA, they are entitled to ask for this information in the same way you would do, subject to some limitations. Where possible they should only ask for information about you that will help them make a decision on your behalf.
What restrictions or conditions can I include in the LPA? You can include restrictions or conditions in your LPA which allow you to decide which decisions you want your Attorney(s) to make. For example:
• You may want to add a condition to your LPA so that your Attorney(s) must act in a particular way. For example, you could say that your Attorney must always talk to a particular person before making a decision about where you live;
• You may also want to limit the powers your Attorney has. For example, you could include a restriction that your Attorney can only make decisions about your social care but not about any aspect of your healthcare or vice versa.
You should think carefully about how you word any restrictions or conditions that you include in your LPA. To ensure that health and social care staff and other professionals can follow them effectively in the future, they should be straightforward, easy to understand and capable of being put into practice. If there are any conditions or restrictions that are considered to be too complicated or not practical it's possible that the OPG will need to refer your LPA to the Court of Protection for them to consider cancelling that condition or restriction from your LPA.
You should remember that restrictions and conditions are there for your Attorney(s) to follow when making decisions on your behalf and in your best interests. They are not intended to act as statements of your intentions for people other than your Attorney(s) to follow. You may wish to discuss the types of restrictions and conditions you want to include in your LPA with a health or social care professional.
What decisions about my healthcare will my Attorney(s) be able to make? If you give your Attorney(s) the power to make personal welfare decisions without any restrictions or conditions they will be able to give or refuse consent to medical treatment - for example, an operation, a course of treatment or a particular procedure. They will also be able to make decisions about dental or optical care or whether you can take part in particular types of research projects.
It's important to remember that treatment is ultimately a clinical decision and your Attorney(s) cannot demand treatment which doctors do not believe is necessary or clinically worthwhile.
If you want your Attorney(s) to have the power to make decisions about 'life-sustaining treatment' you have to expressly give your Attorney(s) the power to make such decisions. If you do not give your Attorney(s) the ability to make decisions about life-sustaining treatment, these decisions will be made by a health professional instead (subject to any valid and applicable advance decision).
What is life sustaining-treatment? Life-sustaining treatment means any treatment that a doctor considers necessary to sustain your life and it will depend on the circumstances of a particular situation. Examples of life-sustaining treatment might include:
• a serious surgical operation, e.g. a heart bypass;
• receiving chemotherapy, radiotherapy or undergoing surgery to treat cancer; or
• an organ transplant.
But life-sustaining treatment could also include more day-to-day procedures or treatments - for example, a course of antibiotics if you have breathing problems and develop pneumonia. Whether treatment is life sustaining or not will depend on the situation. The important factor is if the treatment is needed to keep you alive. Life-sustaining treatment usually also includes artificial nutrition or hydration (ANH). ANH is food and water that is given to someone other than through their mouth, usually through a tube but sometimes directly into the veins. It does not mean eating and drinking by mouth.
If you allow your Attorney(s) to make decisions about life-sustaining treatment this may mean making decisions about whether or not to withdraw treatments, including ANH, in situations where that treatment has become burdensome or is not effective.
For more advice on Health and Welfare LPA's please contact us by email (and we'll call you back), or phone us direct on 0208 886 2344.
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