Tina:  Angie, we are going to contact Marilyn and see if she will consent to being one of your emergency contacts. If you should ever need immediate assistance for any reason, you can contact her. She is only two hours away and she has contacts which can get to you much quicker than we can. You can trust her to help you anyway she can. And know that we will be there as quickly as we can get there. In fact, we may get a medical power of attorney for her.

Angie:  What does that mean?

Bette:  Because you will be a single adult, you are the only one who can give permission to perform surgery or some life saving measures. By law, if you are incapacitated, your next of kin can grant permission. That would be me or your mom and Daniel when he becomes an adult.  Anyone else would need a medical power of attorney.  So, if you say were in an automobile accident in which you were unconscious and needed immediate surgery, then with a medical power of attorney, she could grant permission in your incapacity. Once you regain conscience, you regain control of medical decision power. If someone does not have that, the medical facility would have to wait until one of us arrived to grant permission.

Angie:  Oh, I see. Someone has to grant permission for me to receive treatment other than life saving measures.  So that is me or whoever I establish with my power of attorney.

Tina:  Yes. And while you are incapacitated, that person would have full access to your medical records and history.

Angie: And what if I don’t want her to see those?

Tina:  Do you trust Marilyn to protect you and to honor your privacy?

Angie:  Yes.

Tina:  Marilyn has been an officer of the court in Canada. She will not access your medical records out of curiosity or to find the latest subject to gossip about. She will access them to make the necessary medical choices in the moment she is responsible. So, if you trust her, you have to believe that she will use your information only in an appropriate manner.

Angie:  Yeah, you are right. She will need all the information to make a decision.