Immediate Access to Medical Directives & Emergency Medical Info—Anywhere, Anytime, 24/7/365

A durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (HCPOA) is a type of Medical Directive. It is an important document that everyone should sign, as it names the persons who will make health-care and end-of-life decisions for you if you are ever unable to do so yourself.

However, for a variety of reasons, your HCPOA, as well as your list of Medications, the names and phone numbers of your health-care decision makers and of your primary care physician, and other important medical information (Your Emergency Info), are frequently not available when they are needed. For example, you may be traveling or on vacation when an emergency medical situation arises, or you may be involved in an automobile accident (even close to home). What happens if you are unable to communicate with emergency medical personnel, and, as is likely, do not have your HCPOA or Your Emergency Info with you?

Although most estate planning law firms can prepare a HCPOA for you, typically nothing further is done after the document is signed.

We recommend taking it a step further.

We want to ensure that your HCPOA and Your Emergency Info will be instantly available to hospitals if (a) you are in an accident or have a medical emergency, and are unable to communicate, or (b) you are at the hospital (perhaps for a routine elective procedure) and are, in fact, able to communicate normally, but do not have your HCPOA or Your Emergency Info with you.

As a result, we have recommended for many years that Clients enroll in and become members of DocuBank.

DocuBank is a firm located in Narberth, PA, that provides an extremely effective means of ensuring that your HCPOA and Your Emergency Info are available worldwide and whenever needed.

A DocuBank membership consists of 2 completely separate and unconnected parts:

1) A DocuBank Emergency Wallet Card

This Card lets hospitals instantly access your HCPOA and Your Emergency Info. Using the Member # and Pin on your Emergency Wallet Card, hospital staff can contact DocuBank 24/7 in one of 2 ways: (1) By Calling the Toll-Free Number Listed on the Card, and having everything faxed directly to the hospital; or (2) By Going To the Website Listed on the Card, and having everything printed right at the hospital directly from the Website. As you will note, you can choose to list any important medical conditions and allergy information on the face of the Card, so that they will be immediately available to the hospital.

2) An Online Vault

DocuBank calls it a SAFE (Store All Files Electronically). You can store digital copies of your estate planning documents, and of all other important files and information, in one “safe” and secure location. You can then specify who will have access to the materials stored in your Vault, and unless you so specify, hospitals will not have access to those documents. Rather, hospitals will only be able to access your HCPOA and Your Emergency Info by using your DocuBank Emergency Wallet Card. Once your DocuBank membership is active, you can log in to establish your encrypted “safe” password, and then begin uploading documents from your personal computer. Up to 2 GB of storage is included with each complete membership.

Please feel free to click on the Link below to view a very informative Video by DocuBank that describes this program.

We will be pleased to discuss with you a DocuBank membership.

Disclaimer: We do not have any financial connection whatsoever to DocuBank, except that DocuBank provides us, at no charge, with a DocuBank membership. DocuBank provides this benefit to all attorneys who refer Clients to DocuBank.