Our 18 year old granddaughter will be traveling with us in Ireland this June, should we have her parents prepare a letter of authorization if medical care was required ? We have purchased travel insurance, thanks
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Danville, VT
12040 posts
Unless she carries documents on her specifically stating that she does NOT want emergency life-sustaining care (known as a DNR or "Do Not Recussitate" order in the US), the international standard is to do whatever is necessary to keep the patient alive until someone who is authorized to direct otherwise says so. Even if she wasn't of age (I don't know the specifics in Ireland, but in some countries the age of consent for certain procedures is as low as 16), it would be just a quick phone call home to get consent for any non-emergency procedure. With the exception of DNR orders and advanced directives properly prepared by a knowledgable attorney, in my experience trying to spell these kinds of things out in advanced just opens up a can of medical-legal worms.