Under California’s Health Care Decisions Law (Prob. Code, § 4600 et seq.), a principal may appoint a health care agent to make health care decisions should the principal later lack capacity to make them. In an appellate case decided by the Supreme Court of California (“California Supreme Court”) on March 28, 2024, a health care agent had signed two contracts with a skilled nursing facility (nursing home). One, with state-dictated terms, secured the principal’s admission to the facility. The other made arbitration the exclusive pathway for resolving disputes with the facility.
The second contract was optional and had no bearing on whether the principal could access the facility or receive care. The issue before the California Supreme Court was whether execution of the second, separate, and optional contract for arbitration was a health care decision within the health care agent’s authority. The California Supreme Court held that it was not, and the facility’s owners and operators may not, therefore, rely on the agent’s execution of that second agreement to compel arbitration of claims arising from the principal’s alleged maltreatment that have been filed in court.
California’s Health Care Decisions Law
The California’s Health Care Decisions Law (Prob. Code, § 4600 et seq.) authorizes powers of attorney for health care (§ 4671), provides a definition of the term “health care decisions” (§ 4617), and instructs that its provisions “govern the effect” of writings created under its authority (§ 4700). A “health care decision” is one “regarding the patient’s health care” (§ 4617, subd. (a)). “Health care” is defined as “any care, treatment, service, or procedure to maintain, diagnose, or otherwise affect a patient’s physical or mental health condition” (§ 4615).
The California Supreme Court stated: “Having considered the meaning of a “health care decision” within Logan’s power of attorney, in light of the Health Care Decisions Law and the Probate Code, we conclude that the most reasonable construction of that term excludes the optional, separate arbitration agreement with defendants. Resort to agency law bolsters, rather than undermines, this conclusion … In doing so, we align California with the published opinions of numerous other state courts that — after reviewing powers of attorney formed under state statutes akin to the Health Care Decisions Law — conclude an agreement to arbitrate, particularly when optional and separate, is not a health care decision within an agent’s power.”
Source Harrod v. County Oaks Partners, LLC, S276545.
If you or a loved one suffered injuries (or worse) while a resident of a nursing home in California or in another U.S. state due to improper nursing home discharge, improper nursing home transfer, a nursing home fall, nursing home aspiration, nursing home neglect, nursing home negligence, nursing home abuse, nursing home understaffing, or the nursing home failing to properly care for a vulnerable adult, you should promptly find a nursing home claim lawyer in California or in your state who may investigate your nursing home claim for you and file a nursing home claim on your behalf or behalf of your loved one, if appropriate.
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