Why Your College Student Needs a Health Care Proxy

Sending your child off to college is a proud and emotional milestone. While you’re helping them move into a dorm or pack for campus, there’s one essential legal safeguard many families forget, a health care proxy. Once your child turns 18, you no longer have the legal right to access their medical information or make decisions for them. That’s why your college student needs a health care proxy before an emergency happens.

What Is a Health Care Proxy?

A health care proxy is a legal document. It allows your child to name someone, usually a parent or trusted adult, to make medical decisions if they can’t do so themselves. This might happen after an accident, during an illness, or in any emergency where they’re unconscious or unable to communicate.

Without this document, doctors may not legally share important details with you, even in life-threatening situations.

Why It’s Essential for College Students

At 18, your child becomes a legal adult. That change affects more than just voting and finances. Hospitals and doctors can’t involve you in their care unless your child has given written permission.

If your student is far from home and faces a medical emergency, a health care proxy allows you to:

• Speak directly with doctors

• Receive medical updates

• Make decisions quickly and legally

This protection is especially important during sports seasons, flu outbreaks, or while traveling, times when health issues are more likely to arise.

When Your Student Might Need It

Emergencies don’t wait for paperwork. Here are common situations where a health care proxy is essential:

• Sports Injuries: Your child suffers a concussion during practice and can’t give consent for treatment.

• Surgery Complications: A routine procedure suddenly requires additional intervention. Doctors need fast approval.

• Mental Health Crisis: Your child is in distress and unable to make sound decisions.

• Car Accident: While away at school, your child is hospitalized and unresponsive.

• Illness or COVID: Your student is seriously ill and unable to speak clearly or make decisions.

• Alcohol or Substance-Related Emergency: Your child becomes unresponsive or disoriented after a party, and medical providers need direction from a legally authorized adult.

These situations happen more often than you think, especially for student-athletes or kids living far from home.

A Simple Step, a Big Impact

A health care proxy isn’t just for worst-case scenarios. Even small medical issues can become urgent. Without this document, hospitals may need to rely on court-appointed guardians or default laws, which may not reflect your child’s wishes.

Setting up a proxy is quick and affordable. It gives parents peace of mind and ensures your child has someone they trust to speak for them in a medical crisis.

Contact us today to learn more about why your college student needs a health care proxy, and how to put this essential protection in place before the school year begins.