By Richard and Susan Foley

A parent's worst fear is being unable to help their children when they are hurt. Such fears could become a reality after your child reaches age 18, if the child has not given you a proper medical power of attorney.

We recently experienced this problem ourselves firsthand when our son, Matt, was injured in a snowmobile mishap. As a 20-year-old guy, Matt is naturally testing his personal limits and the limits of his Skidoo Mod 600. Unfortunately, he learned a couple of weeks ago that he isn't invincible and that his body has limits.

The accident happened on a Sunday afternoon back in the mountains above Turnagain Pass, where the serious boys run their machines. Executing an aerial maneuver called a whip, Matt misjudged his landing and tried to bail out and avoid a crash landing. As he jumped from the machine, his foot caught on the running board. He badly dislocated his ankle and broke three bones. Emergency surgery was required.

By the time he arrived at the emergency room by ambulance, he had already received plenty of narcotics to dull the pain. The hospital asked Susan to consent to surgery and treatment on Matt's behalf because the staff and doctor knew his decision making ability was impaired.

But Matt is an adult. Could Susan legally give consent? The hospital didn't seem to care about formal legalities in this case, but fortunately Matt had executed a health care directive last year before he went off to welding school in Oklahoma.

Susan was able to get to the Anchorage hospital and give consent for surgery. Susan understood that she was able to help her son in this emergency and that was what really mattered.

All's well that ends well. Matt will heal and walk again. The accident could have been much worse. Matt is rethinking aerial stunts on a snowmachine as he convalesces at home for eight weeks with his foot up.

But our personal experience has reinforced our belief that parents of adult children who are still at home or attending college should consider having them execute an appropriate medical power of attorney.

Here are some of the steps we recommend:

Emergency Medical Decisions for Minor Children.

Schools and childcare providers require that an emergency plan be established for children under age 18. They typically require emergency contact information, including names and phone numbers for pediatricians and hospitals.

Parents who might be separated from their minor children in an emergency should provide written authorization for caregivers to make health care decisions and to communicate with physicians and hospitals. Alaska law authorizes the use of a limited power of attorney for this purpose. Parents should also make sure that caregivers and potential medical providers have access to the child's health history, immunization records, and allergies.

Medical Decision Making for Young Adult Children.

College aged children are no longer minors under Alaska law. But once a child reaches age 18, he or she has the legal ability to sign a health care power of attorney.

The Alaska statutes provides a form advance health care directive that includes power of attorney and living will instructions. Forms are also available at the local hospitals and online. These documents can be difficult to understand. They should be completed only after careful study or with the assistance of a professional.

When an adult child wants you to make emergency health care decisions, you should be named as a decision maker in the advance medical directive. Because the Alaska advance medical directive may be unfamiliar to hospitals in other states, it's wise to have a child sign a directive that's valid in the state where he or she is working or attending college.

Your child should also sign an authorization for release of protected information under the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

This document is additional proof that medical professionals may communicate with you.

Assuring that Your Child's Health Care Documents are Available in an Emergency.

If your child has signed an advance medical directive and HIPAA authorization for you, be sure you both know where the documents are. Most college age kids are not well organized and you should probably keep the original documents.

Be sure you also have a list of allergies and current medications.

Consider using an online document storage service such as DocuBank (www.docubank.com) to ensure that this information is easily available to you and to a hospital. DocuBank will fax copies of health care related documents to a hospital that requests them. Their I.C.E. (In Case of Emergency) service will even send you a text message or e-mail if a hospital asks for the documents. They provide a wallet card for your child to carry, requesting that DocuBank be contacted in an emergency.

Richard and Susan Foley are the founding owners of Foley & Foley, P.C., a full service estate and business planning law firm. Learn more about them at www.foleyfoley.com.