Practical problems in guardianship procedures from the perspective of a judge at a guardianship court
Dodegge, G.
Zeitschrift für Evidenz Fortbildung und Qualitat Im Gesundheitswesen 102(3): 156-161
2008
ISSN/ISBN: 1865-9217 PMID: 19004175 DOI: 10.1016/j.zefq.2008.02.035Document Number: 320336
Enduring powers of attorney and advance directives (living wills) are prepared to specifically address the occurrence of age-related legal incompetence or disease-related incapacity. Everyday legal practice shows that in connection with these precautionary tools similar constellations of certain problems may occur in the individual case. Regarding enduring powers of attorney, the guardianship courts are requested to appoint a guardian in a case where it is unclear whether a power of attorney has effectively been granted in the first place or revoked by the grantor. But also, self-serving behaviour of the principal, multiple powers of attorney and the lack of acceptance in the field of legal relations may entail guardianship court action. Within the framework of a living will individuals appeal to guardianship courts to bindingly determine whether to refrain from a medical or nursing procedure contrary to the medical indication. Often there is contradictory information about whether a living will has been communicated verbally and, if so, about the statements expressed therein. The issues of effective execution, clarity of content, revocation and the legal or binding effect of living wills in court proceedings are likewise important.