Excuse me.....total six family members present at the time of signing....and NOW, you say, they all agree she did not understand what she was signing? A bit shakey, that. Surely sounds like self-interested hind-sight to me. But you don't have to convince me. You have to convince the medical professionals that will be giving or withholding care when the time comes....and THEY will have that document in-hand. You may trust me when I tell you that if/when comparing your instructions to them against their patient's signed document, they'll go with the patient's signed document every time. Change? She can change it....if she's competent to do so. Otherwise, no. Except.... As attorney-in-fact -- if that's what you meant by "agent" named in health care power of attorney document -- you may have authority to direct/act on your own if/when some crucial decision-time arises. However, assuming the home has a document-copy on file, you may well encounter opposition from them at the crucial moment...which I suspect is exactly what you want to avoid. Do not guess at this. Find out. If your MiL is not competent to sign/amend, you're pretty much hosed that way. Only other alternative is to become absolutely familiar with your powers as attorney-in-fact....including how to go about asserting such power if/when challenged. From your post, you're obviously adrift. Get a copy of the document, pay an attorney for an hour of their time, and have this explained to you so that you understand what can be done and what cannot be done. Might take two hours. Get it done.

frmrsdghtr - you summed it up perfectly. We live in Ontario and are under 65 - not by much, but still, under 65, which does make a difference (joyfulguy - you are over 65 so would benefit from many things that we do not). OHIP (the Ontario Health Plan) is about to cut many services (eyes - and I don't mean "normal" eye care) - I mean for people like my husband who has had a vitrectomy and cataract surgery. People who are diabetics often have major eye problems etc. and this will affect them - and not all are obese. My husband's eyes are bad enough that one of his eye specialists (he has 3) has been able to run his quarterly eye tests through OHIP, but at his May 8 appointment he was told that he would not be able to do this any longer - and his office plan won't cover it. My husband pays high premiums for family coverage (just the two of us) - yet has deductibles of $1,250 for EACH of medical and dental - so we basically pay for everything due to the deductibles - and since he has only one prescription for eye drops and I have one prescription we are not your "normal" Cdns. Even his office health care provider remarked that for people paying such high premiums we had very few claims (well, they wouldn't pay for his vitrectomy rehab equipment, nothing towards his sleep apnea dental appliance, his office dental plan does not cover specialists (and his regular dentist - an oral surgeon, no longer does root canals) plus there is the deductible problem. Back in the day your GP could zap a wart - now you need to be referred to a derm (heck, I could do it). I had several moles develop suddenly on my neck last year - it took over 6 months to get a derm appointment - and that was with a different derm - first one was going to be 9 months - and both required referrals from my GP. Yet, if I wanted to have something cosmetic done, I could have been seen next day. I have searched the OHIP site but little has been posted yet. The news showed the cost of the glaucoma test being $63.00 with OHIP paying the doctors $25.00 - but that must be for the cost of the equipment, because my husband pays over $200 for each test, so I think they need to get the facts straight. Fees to radiologists are being cut back which will affect mammograms (techs do the mammos but they are read by the radiologist so I guess backlog will come into play, and EKGs. Certain heart tests are being cut as well. I know that if you need a lower back X-Ray it will have to be seriously justified by your doctor. Every time I am supposed to have a bone density test (despite confirming day before) I arrive and am told that I can't have it for another year or two - but I am welcome to pay for it. I fully expect to never be able to get one again! According to my pharmacist, retired people post 65 can have their prescriptions covered, but they must take Generic pills. I can't take Generics - it isn't the meds factor, it is the non-medicinal ingredients I am allergic to - as are many others - and many seniors are paying the substantial difference themselves. My husband recently had a discussion with a N.Y. taxi driver who told him how lucky he was to live in Canada where dental, medical and vision (even glasses) are 100% paid for. My husband tried to set him straight - but the guy didn't believe him. I have had the same discussions in the U.S. and people think I am wrong. As if, I live here. My husband's cousin had to travel from Ontario to the Mayo Clinic to be diagosed with ALS (no one saw that one coming). She had been falling down for well over a year and it was going to take her another year to be seen by a specialist - so they paid to go to Mayo - and this was the horrible result. She is 54 years old. I know what the cost was to go to the Mayo Clinic and I think they could have bought a house in Michigan for less. If we need an MRI we can get it much more quickly in the U.S. - but we have to pay for it. Same with tests for prostate cancer etc. Is our health care better than what you have in the U.S. - DEFINITELY. Is it the health care that people think we have - NO. And let's not forget that we pay very high taxes and do not enjoy the many deductions that Americans have. There would have to be some give and take for the Americans to have our plans. Of course people who work for the government or are represented by strong unions (teachers, postal workers etc.) have excellent pension plans and retirement benefits. The average person working in private business does not. That would be us. If we take out private plans such as Blue Cross the costs are high - much like in the U.S. - and coverage is minimal - not to mention that everything seems to be pre-existing. When you read the list I don't think there is anything that the normal person hasn't experienced at least once in their respective lifetime. This is definitely not the time for my husband to be facing retirement - the economy is horrible - here as well - and we have been earning nil on our investment funds. But our banking laws are a lot better! Actually, the mail just arrived - bringing with it a letter from my husband's GP advising of the cost of this year's premium to cover non-insured services - I have the same with my doctor - it is about $100 - $125.00 for individual coverage. I am very happy with his doctor - for the first time they are offer fees for Individuals, COUPLES, or Families. There are many couples such as us who pay for people with several kids etc., yet we do not get one single tax break - period.

I did live-in health care back when I was in my 20's, I was a CNA and did not only do patient care but also light housekeeping, cooking and shopping. I worked for a private agency then.. the clients all paid out-of-pocket. Fast forward to a few years ago, my CNA liscense had expired but I took a job as a home health aide. Very, very different. I could not do any patient care.. only cleaning, laundry and shopping. During my training I was shocked to see that most of the aides did very little and spent most of the time visiting with the clients. One of my first days alone I cleaned a lady's refrigerator for over 2 hours. Things had been spilled in there I'm guessing several months earlier and although HHA's had been there 2 times every week.. no one cleaned it up. I also had clients that told me to go ahead and leave when I was done although my time wasn't up (so there is a lot of that going on). I only kept that job a couple weeks... it wasn't at all what I had expected. Good info Lisa!!

That's what I was wondering Susan, your ability to have access to out of area and out of Geisinger Health System care. That bill I received wasn't one isolated instance, and not an error. I received treatment at a Geisinger facility for a couple of months on a recommendation from a friend. Every time I had to see the MD in charge of the treatment I was charged as I previously described. BC/BS paid for the Rx but didn't pay for the MD visits til I met the deductibles for BS and Major Medical, 2 different deductibles, I ended up paying for most of the visits out of pocket. A couple of yrs ago I fell and had a severe Fx of my upper arm bone. There was a possibility of needing a shoulder replacement, so I chose to go out the area for surgery in case I did need the replacement. I has BC/BS at the time, so that wasn't an issue. I like to keep my options open, you never know what can happen. It's impossible to see into the future, the best you can do is to try to prepare for the eventualities that you can think of. I always say that if strange things can happen, they will happen to me.