- Entitlement and access to public health care services
- Medical treatment: consent and withdrawal
- Advance Directives
- Taking care of a mentally incapacitated person: Guardianship or Committee
- Enduring Power of Attorney
- What is an Enduring Power of Attorney?
- Key advantages of an EPA
- The attorney
- Duties and liabilities of the attorney(s)
- The attorney(s)' authorities and restrictions
- How to make an EPA - using the prescribed form
- How to make an EPA - signed by the donor
- How to make an EPA - certificate by a registered medical practitioner and a solicitor
- How to make an EPA - arrangements for donor who is physically incapable
- How to make an EPA - signed by the attorney(s)
- Commencement of the EPA
- Registration of the EPA
- Notification of named persons
- Revocation
- Hypothetical cases
- Questions and answers
- Guide to prescribed forms of the Enduring Power of Attorney and downloading the forms
- Elder abuse
- Medical negligence
- Medical insurance
- Care by residential care homes for elderly persons
Enduring Power of Attorney
Notification of named persons
The donor can nominate person(s) to be notified by the attorney before applying to the Registrar of the High Court for the registration of the EPA. The named person(s) can be:
- the donor himself/herself;
- any attorneys not joining in the application; or
- up to two other persons.
(Please refer to section 6 of the Enduring Powers of Attorney (Prescribed Form) Regulation (Cap.501A of the Laws of Hong Kong))
This mechanism would also serve to give some psychological comfort to the donor, by ensuring that persons other than the attorney will become aware of the operation of the EPA upon the donor becoming mentally incapacitated.
If an attorney does not notify the donor or the persons named, that does not prevent the registration of the EPA or make it invalid. However, according to section 19 of the Enduring Powers of Attorney Ordinance (Cap.501 of the Laws of Hong Kong), in any legal proceedings relating to the EPA the court may, if it considers it appropriate, draw an adverse inference from the attorney’s failure to notify the named person(s).
