My elderly sister is in care home on hospice care. My intention was to bring her home so she could be with family as her time drew near. My sister's estranged daughter who she hasn't spoken with in years showed up with a medical power of attorney that listed her in charge. She told the care home to stop her mother's pain meds and to allow no visitors. The care home said my name is also on the document but that per the daughters instructions I am not allowed to see the document. I am pretty sure the document is forged, which I will immediately know if only I could see the document. Do I need to hire an attorney to get a look at the document? Please help!
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Do you have a copy of a healthcare directive which names you as the primary agent? If there was a prior document to the one the daughter had drawn up, then I believe the agents removed would need notice of the power of attorney being revoked.
If it's a matter of visitation at this time, is the care home accepting visitors even with the lock-down or as an exception to your sister's hospice status? Can you try to communicate with your sister's daughter since this is best as a family matter?
What you need to find out are (1) whether your name in the document provided to the care home does in fact name you as co-proxy, or subsequent proxy, or if it specifically excludes you from any authority at all, which is something I began to question when you wrote the home will not provide you with a copy. OTOH, folks there probably do not want to become involved in a family disagreement.
If you're old enough to participate in your local senior center, find out if it (and others in the area) have free legal advice, sometimes weekly or biweekly (although that's probably not the standard now during the pandemic). Then ask a few attorneys from different jurisdictions, and in the meantime find a qualified estate planning or elder law attorney for a brief consultation.
Alternately, you can search for {your state}, POAs, distribution of copies (or something similar).
Here's a hit for Michigan, with information in the 3rd paragraph category, affirming that a proxy must sign as well:
https://www.michbar.org/public_resources/probate_dpoa
Your profile doesn't include your state, but you can do some research to see if you can find similar criteria. If it requires proxy signature, and you don't recall signing, then there's a good possibility that you don't have the authority to act on your sister's behalf.