What can I do when a primary care physician refuses to speak to me even though I have POA for my mother?

Mental Illness and privacy laws are tougher today than before. However, there are ways to ask questions which don't break the HIPPA Rules. NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Ilnness, has a handout of good questions for relatives of someone with a mental illness which comes from their free Family to Family Course.

Guardianship for an incapacitated individual has its limitations, as well. Seems they listen to the patient, and even if that person does not possess sound judgment, their wishes are respected. This is the right of every individual, and protected by law. You and I have that right, as well. Even for those with mental illness, who cannot make rational decisions, it seems our participation is "by invitation," and the individual's request for privacy protected. Where mental illness is involved, this can become quite interesting...

We have Kaiser Permanante, and they had my mother-in-law sign a form that gives me permission to hear whatever she hears. She wanted all of us that are hands on caregivers to have equal knowledge and input. Since all of Kaiser is linked together via computer, whoever is with her at her appointment, gets to make a decision at the time if one needs to be made. It's pretty handy.

I agree you need to find a doc that will deal with you as her caregiverand if her present doc is in a group I would report him to the director of the group.

Annalidiot is right, when I made my comment earlier I assumed that your mother had dementia and could not make safe decisions. But a POA is very limited if the person is competent. You would need "conservatorship" if you wanted to be completely in charge.

You didn't say what the issue was that you wanted to discuss with the doctor, but you may consider the fact that even a DPAH (healthcare proxy) cannot supercede your mom's direct relationship with her doctor - as long as she is competant and she is speaking to the doctor it doesn't automatically give you any authority.

Please don't take this as a negative - but being named to "speak" on someone's behalf in a POA is not carte blanche. If you are not able to sit with your mom and have her tell the doctor that she wants the doctor to speak to you directly or privately then your POA means nothing until she is unable to speak for herself. the term "Power of Attorney" is very misunderstood when it comes to family and healthcare.

So let us know your exact situation if you will and maybe someone can help or at least commiserate with you. Remember, those rules are there for the patient - not the family.

What is it you want to discuss? What reason did the doctor give to not talk to you?

I recently had the same problem at Torrance Memorial Hospital where my Dad is. I called the hospital and had the doctors with whom I could not communicate taken OFF my Dad's case. As well, I have lodged a formal complaint with Medicare and with Secure Horizons.

The problem with the insurance company is that may REQUIRE other "secret" forms in addition to your POA and for the past 3 weeks I have gotten the run around from Secure Horizons while my Dad has been in the hospital without a voice. Finally, my sister, who is an attorney got them to "cough up" the fact that you ALSO need a form called an an Authorized Representative Form; this is specific to Secure Horizons. In addition I found out that Secure Horizons PURGE their systems each year of your carefully filed POA so it is imperative to REFILE your POA and other required paperwork EVERY year. This is absurd but then Secure Horizons is absurd.

This is what I have learned so far.

Get a HIPPA and take you with you to all her Drs. This way you cannot be denied

Just have the doctor speak to your mother in front of you. He can't throw you out of the room.

Hi~As far as I know-you need POA for Health, and the records can be released to you-or your physician will speak with you. It is very important to have this. Having Just POA-can me that you are overlooking a host of other issues, which was also stated in by another person who replied. If you have POA for medical issues, and the doctor still refuses to go over matters with you, it is time to fined another physician/neurologist.

I might be wrong and it would probably be a good idea to check with the lawyer who wrote up the POA, but I think Medical POA trumps HIPPA.

One thing that I found works well is to write a letter to the doctor expressing all your concerns. Although HIPPA regulations are strict, you can talk to the doctor and voice your feelings and worries. Alot of time they see the person for a few minutes and they are on their best behavior so the doctor doesnt know about all your concerns. Write a letter or just tell the doctor you want to talk to them and you know they cant respond with out the completed paperwork but you have concerns now. If they wont listen then yep time to find another one. But nothing stops you from talking to the doctor.

If your mother has capacity and is able to make healthcare decisions for herself, it doesn't necessarily matter that you are her POA. Many physicians want/need family input, and usually if the patient instructs them to share personal health information with another person they will. Ask you mother to advise her doctor that it is appropriate for him to talk to you, if not help her find another physician who will talk to you about her condition/care. It is important for you to be involved, since if something does happen to her, you would be the person most likely providing care for her. Good luck!

Have you given a copy of your POA to the doctor's office?

Is it a Durable or Medical POA? To a doctor or hospital about all that a Durable POA means is that someone will make sure the bills are paid. A Medical POA carries more weight in this type of situation.

Every doctor that my mother sees has been given a copy of both of my POAs. Upon a cousin's advice, I keep a copy of each POA in each of my cars in case I need to have it for some emergency.

I not only go with my mother on her appointments, but I also contact mainly her neurologist about health concerns.

I definitely agree, if this doctor will not abide by your POA, you need to find one who will.

There is something called HIPPA regulations, it was started to protect families from sales people getting medical information and trying to sell stuff to people recently hospitalized. But the regulation was so strongly written that now many doctors and hospital fear getting in trouble. Technically they should never even give information over the phone!?

Are you sure its the doctor refusing, or some officious staff member. Have you shown them the POA that you have? If you have - they should have no problem giving you information.
Nevertheless, you can take your mother to another doctor and they will request her files from the first doctor (they cannot refuse, and in 20 years I have never seen it). Then you can establish a relationship with the new doctor AND his staff.
p.s. always be nice to staff and nurses, if they like you, they can make your life a lot easier.

I cose the doctor for my mother as he has a good rep and I am always allowed to sit in on their discussions and he knows she doesn't do what she needs to do so he and I discuss what is next in her plan of health. There are some good ones out there just have to ask questions, find out what other people are using in your community. I live a very small town in the country so it is different than a large city. This firm has been established for 50 odd years by our doctors father so reputation is a meaningful thing here in the south. I encourage you to look for another source you can probably google physicians in your area to find out what kind of references they have.

I'm wondering if others have had the same experience. Is it a general failure in the healthcare system that PCPs can disregard POA? Are there no PT/caregiver "rights" in this regard?

Find one that will and have your mothers records sent to the new one she can sign for them no charge express your concerns to the new doc and tell him/her that is why you are shopping for a new PCD