Collegians need adult legal protections

An out-of-the-area college is the defining rite of passage for most children. But even if they remain on parents' health insurance policies, they are adults in every way once they reach 18.

They must file their own taxes past a certain tax threshold. They can vote for a candidate who might raise an eyebrow from mom or can stay out all night in situations dad might not approve.

But worse things happen in college every year.

What if an impaired driver isn't paying attention at 2 a.m. and runs down your son walking though a crosswalk back from a late-night cramming session?

What if, in this new dorm lifestyle, your daughter picks up a form of meningitis from sharing a beverage cup or a forkful of cake?

Pretty awful.

Those days of decisions for your 10 year old at the pediatrician's office are over. Do not send your son or daughter off to college without a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare. Your child, now an adult, has to approve and sign this paperwork that might save his/her life.

In addition to a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare, there is a bit more paperwork to be done. A Living Will sets down your child's wishes about life support and other medical interventions and a HIPAA Release waives strict rights of privacy. Without this instrument, the parents of an incapacitated child cannot even find out what treatments and medications are being given in a medical facility.

Healthcare and property directives and a simple will for your child can be prepared in short order; a few minutes of time now is vastly better than a crisis in which you can only observe, not act, in your child's best interests.

--Mike Ryan