The Challenge of Protecting Yourself

Recently I heard a (true) story on the radio about how a couple married for 63 years have lost thousands of dollars and will need to spend more in dealing with and fighting off the Public Trustee.

Worse the husband came within an hour of losing his life due to neglect at a nursing home and by the Public Trustee.

So I contacted the radio host and suggested that people be told about the necessity of having a Power of Attorney to avoid this. And he had me as a guest to talk about it. I will try and post a clip of the interview here.


But since the interview and after talking with a client and friend who is a Doctor I have realized that for most people EVEN WITH a Power of Attorney they are STILL at great risk. This is because Manitoba does not embrace the concept of Power of Attorney for Personal Care in its laws. Other Provinces such as Ontario do. The sad truth is that a standard Power of Attorney document only gives authority to handle financial matters, and that in that situation the Public Trustee is still the body responsible for the Personal Care of those who are incapacitated. Doctors regularly point out that the Power of Attorney presented to them by children of patients do not cover health care!

It is ESSENTIAL that you have both a Health Care Directive and a Power of Attorney for Personal Care. Although Manitoba law does not provide guidance on POA for PC it does NOT prohibit it.

There is nothing to prevent you from either a) adding a paragraph to your General Power of Attorney Document - naming a Power of Attorney for Personal Care, or b) Signing a separate document naming a Power of Attorney for Personal Care. You may also want to add a paragraph to authorize all of your care givers and health care providers to provide your personal health information, as provided in the Privacy Health Information Act or similar legislation, to your POA for PC.

Make sure that you state that this is an enduring POA in that it does not terminate in the event of you losing mental competence and make sure it is witnessed by a licensed medical practitioner, lawyer, judge, peace officer, or someone authorized to perform a marriage.

Finally since you can only change this while you are still competent you need to provide for the possibility of you outliving your POA by naming successor POAs.