Taking the responsibility to be an agent for someone’s Power of Attorney for Health Care (POAHC) is a serious commitment. It is important to understand and stand for a person’s wishes. For many it is a privilege to accompany a person you love thru their final days. Sister Maureen Clancy of Chicago felt this way when she agreed to be the POAHC agent for a Sister with whom she had lived in community in the past.
Different states have different laws around POAHC agents. In Illinois, a paper copy of the form is required for your representation for the one you speak for to be honored. For months before she died, the Sister whom Clancy representing was in and out of the hospital many times. “On her last hospitalization, she told me she never wanted to return to the hospital again,” Clancy revealed. “She was at peace and ready to meet her God. I made the commitment to do my best for her. The Sisters and nurses at the facility began the process to honor her wish.”
On her 90th birthday, the Sister’s brother, sister-in-law, and niece celebrated her with her. That night her blood sugar soared. EMS was called. All the paperwork (POAHC, DNR) and health information were on the EMS responder’s clipboard. Sister declined transport to the hospital. Sister declined and went into a coma early the next morning. The Sisters and her niece gathered in prayer until she took her last breath.
“I began to prepare her body when EMS arrived again,” Clancy recalled. “They could not find the DNR or POACH, which had been on the clipboard of the first EMS responders. They insisted on beginning CPR. I objected. I was told that without paperwork, ‘You are nothing!’ I objected, another Sister in the room objected, but he proceeded with checking pulse and lividity. He insisted on starting CPR, despite twenty minutes passing since her heart had stopped.”
CPR is no longer done by hand but by a machine that performs compressions on the patient. “I would not allow the machine to be placed and covered her with my body.” Clancy explained. “I was told I would be arrested. As the EMS responder walked to the door to get a Sheriff’s deputy, a nurse walked in with the DNR and EMS stood down. There were eight sheriff deputies there waiting to arrest me.”
After this incident, Clancy met with the coordinator at the facility where the Sister had lived, and they made changes in assisted living. They now keep a permanent copy of POAHC and DNR paperwork in the room, as they do in independent living. She also met with the Deputy Chief of the Fire Department, who agreed to do educational programs on this issue. He also met with his responders about it. But there needed to be a change in the law to keep this from happening to someone else in the future.
Clancy decided to take action. “I contacted the president of the Illinois Assembly, my representative, who was newly elected and could not meet for two months,” she explained. “His chief-of-staff referred me to Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, Chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee. Her chief-of-staff, Liam, was wonderful to work with. He set up a Zoom call in December 2021 with the Chairwoman. In that conversation, she shared with me about the illness of a family member. I asked her who was the POAHC? She was. I said, ‘What if you called in an emergency and they asked you where your paperwork was?’ We ended the call with her instructing her staff to research the topic. Two days later, Liam called with the news that the staff was now writing up the wording of a bill to address this issue.”
Once the bill becomes law, it will require acceptance of POAHC in electronic form, such as storage on a phone or in the Cloud to be honored by healthcare workers, EMS and doctors. Also, anyone who uses or posts a POAHC document is required to educate users about the new changes.
Many Sisters and friends filled out witness slips and prayed for the passage of this bill into law. On January 26, 2022 the bill was filed with the committee. There was debate on the bill and then a hearing on February 16, 2022 at which Clancy testified. The bill passed unanimously and was sent to the floor of the House for hearings and a vote. After passing the Illinois House and Senate (who added one provision: The Senate requires the principles’ permission for electronic storage”), the Governor signed the bill into law. It will go into effect on January 1, 2023.
Watch Clancy's Interview with Her Local Chicago's CBS Station
