When a person may be subjectively considered an adult varies based on the person and the observing individual: My clients presume I was an adult long ago, my parents have begrudgingly accepted I may have final come of age, and an ex-girlfriend stated moments after we broke up that I would remain a child for the rest of my life. Fortunately, that girlfriend is long gone and, fortunately for her other ex-boyfriends and the rest of us in doubt as to our maturity, the law states that we are all considered an adult for legal purposes at age 18. This is an interesting public policy, since we are not physically or emotionally finished maturing at that age, and (probably due to this fact) we cannot legally do everything at age 18, such as drink alcohol.
It is with this backdrop that we imagine our son or daughter at his or her first keg party at college and hope / wonder / pray that they handle themselves with composure and self-control and don’t drink themselves into a stupor. Or into some situation that will be posted on Youtube. Or, worst of all, drink themselves into a coma and end up in a hospital.
A person’s health care information is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [“HIPAA”]. While this is a good thing for ensuring we are not discriminated against for employment or reputational purposes, it may be the one set of laws that leaves parents completely in the legal lurch regarding their children’s well-being while at college. If your child does end up in a temporarily incapacitated state, the medical facility is usually not legally permitted to provide information to the parent, since that parent is no longer that child’s legal guardian, nor is that parent the child’s health care agent. Indeed, having your child sign a pocket-sized Health Care Proxy naming a parent as his/her agent will allow your child to still party it up, while giving a hospital both contact information and legal authority to contact you if that party goes a few beer funnels too far.
Before you send your kid off to the ivory tower, have him or her sign a pocket health care proxy and keep it in their wallet.
Q For U: Have you discussed the legal consequences of becoming an adult with your child?
