Leaving kids at home...

[JSQ01]

Our kids (ages 4 and 5) will be staying with a relative while we are on our seven night cruise. I'm thinking I should get a LPOA so my relatives will be able to authorize medical treatment if it should be necessary (you know, while we are out on our all day catamaran sail and no one can reach us;) )

 

Has anyone done something like this or have other recommendations? I know they will be able to get us a message on the ship, but it may not be very timely.

 

Thanks!

[arms4]

I have cruised 3 times without my children and they were as young as 1.5 and 3. I did leave a note with an insurance card with my family stating that if they should need medical treatment I give them permission to do what is necessary. Luckily we have never had a problem. The nice thing about cell phones now you can reached anywhere any time. Last year we had family call us (due to a death in the family) when we were out in the middle of the ocean. (Beware it is expensive, but it is cheaper than ship calling, and who cares when it is an emergency what the call is about). So you should have no problem.

[Sea Hag]

Oh yes, definitely leave a medical permission! In our family, we do that even for short trips where we're all still going to be on dry land and "should" always be reachable. Better safe than sorry.

[JSQ01]

Glad to hear you haven't had any issues. I don't plan to take my phone with me on the catamaran, but otherwise I will have it. I do know even though you leave a note, it is not always accepted. My brother had to have an emergency appendectomy while my parents were out of the country, and even though my parents had authorized medical treatment in a note left with my grandparents, the hospital still made them get a signed order from a judge. I'm assuming the LPOA would alleviate that problem, but I'm not for sure.

[jerseygirl3]

Glad to hear you haven't had any issues. I don't plan to take my phone with me on the catamaran, but otherwise I will have it. I do know even though you leave a note, it is not always accepted. My brother had to have an emergency appendectomy while my parents were out of the country, and even though my parents had authorized medical treatment in a note left with my grandparents, the hospital still made them get a signed order from a judge. I'm assuming the LPOA would alleviate that problem, but I'm not for sure.

 

I'm actually surprised to hear this. I'm a pediatric nurse, and my experience has been that in a life threatening situation, even without any medical permission, a doctor is obligated to go forward with any medical procedure deemed necessary to save a life.

[JSQ01]

I'm actually surprised to hear this. I'm a pediatric nurse, and my experience has been that in a life threatening situation, even without any medical permission, a doctor is obligated to go forward with any medical procedure deemed necessary to save a life.

 

Yep, had to go before the judge...it wasn't a huge thing, but needless to say, the "permission slip" from my parents didn't do the trick. I do not remember if they went ahead and admitted my brother or not, and then just got the judge to sign the order. But in any case, I'd like to avoid all that should the situation arise.

[gmomof3k]

We always leave a letter signed by both of us (parents) and Notarized giving Temporary Guardianship to whom every for the length of our vacation...we also fax a copy of the letter to my kids pediatrician to be put in the file so everybody is covered......thank goodness only needed to be used once but everything was taken care of.......

You must put your names, your address, the kids names, the Guardians name and address and the dates......

If you do not have a will you can also do the same thing just need to put Permanent Guardinship instead...........

 

Good Luck

 

 

 

***Past Cruises***

RCI Nordic Empress 1/91

Pre Big Red Boat 9/95

Celebrity Galaxy Eastern 1/98

RCI Radiance Alaska 7/06

Carnival Victory Canada 8/06

NCL Pride of Hawaii 7/07

Carnival Liberty Western 12/07

Carnival Trumph Western 8/08

 

***Future Cruising***

Ruby Princess Western 4/09

[newbiecruiser09]

Yep, had to go before the judge...it wasn't a huge thing, but needless to say, the "permission slip" from my parents didn't do the trick. I do not remember if they went ahead and admitted my brother or not, and then just got the judge to sign the order. But in any case, I'd like to avoid all that should the situation arise.

 

That may have been the case years ago but I believe that now they will treat an emergency even if the parents can't be reached. If you have someway to do a LPOA that does not cost much, go for it. Also make sure that you let the kids school/daycare etc know who will be caring for the kids and list those folks on the pickup forms.

[malittlefoot971]

Last year we took our 5 yr old with us and left the 2 yr old with my parents for the week. what we did in advance was. I called our sons dr. told them we was going on a cruise. told them the dates we was leaving and the day we will be back. They made a note in their file for him along with my parents name address phone number and relationship to our son. we left the insurance card and also a note signed by both of us giving my parents permission to take him to e.r. if needed or to the dr's office if he became ill while we was gone. we didn't have a problem at all thankfully. but when we returned I had a post it note on my pc screen to call to his dr's office in the morning to let them know we are back.

now this cruise coming up we are leaving both kids with my parents an doing the same thing as we did b4.

[lovemyfamily]

When we went to Italy, my parents had my little ones out of state. My Pediatrictions office had a form to fill out that provided other family members to authorize medical care, so I filled out those, added a personal letter on how to reach us, the insurance cards, and information on how to contact our Ped's office back in Michigan (since they were out of state).

 

We are leaving our little ones again with them for our upcoming cruise in a couple of weeks. Thankfully nothing has ever happened, but it is always best to be safe, so we'll do the same thing again.

[JSQ01]

Thanks to all. I found the medical LPOA form online, and I'm going to fill that out and have it notarized. That should take care of any issues...and hopefully it will never have to be used.:D

[silverado44]

In California, there is no need for a LPOA. We have implied consent for minors.