My boyfriends dad is currently in a coma and he wants to be in charge of any and all medical and legal matters pertaining to his dad. But his dads sister has stepped in and trying to control everything. By California law, who has the right to make the decisions for any health and or other decisions? His dad is not married and there are no other siblings, just his son. Does his dads sister have the right to over ride any of his sons decisions? please let me know any information as soon as possible. Thank you
Contact a local lawyer to be sure of the laws in your state.
No mention is made of any powers of attorney, medical or legal, that your BF's father has executed, so I'm assuming that there are none and that California statutory law would prevail, absent such a lack of designation by the patient.
Here are a couple of ways to get some quick legal advice on this issue:
1. Contact yours and your BF's senior center in your community to see if they have weekly free legal consultations. In Michigan, many communities offer this service for people to get some quick and general legal advice for free. Various attorneys in different practice areas participate.
2. Call either the California State Bar Association or the local county bar association in your county to get names of elder law attorneys. Sometimes you can get a telephone conversation (but it won't be cheap) without having to go in for a person-to-person consultation.
3. This is a more complicated route, but if you know how to do a basic legal search, you can check California summaries of laws. Google "Findlaw California Probate Code". I got a lot of hits for searching the statutes.
I found this for you, but be cautioned that this is just based on a quick legal search. And I'm not an attorney, just a paralegal, so my search isn't necessarily definitive. It's just an indication of a more circuituous and complex route, which is why a direct consultation with an attorney is the best and most reliable way to go.
California Code, Division 4.7, Health Care Decisions:
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/PROB/1/d4.7
I did some quick searches and didn't find the answers I was seeking, but did find this section which addresses the hospital's role in an emergency situation.
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/PROB/1/d4.7/2/3/s4717.
Note the emphasis on what the hospital "reasonably believes".
Again, contact a California elder law attorney ASAP. And good luck!