I attended a legal talk today, and one issue of the discussion was on non-traditional couples (e.g. same sex partners) and dealing with medical decisions in the hospital.  Many times hospital staff will not let someone who doesn’t “look” like a spouse give medical authorization or even access to the hospital room.  The speaker mentioned that it is a good idea to have your Will, Power of Attorney, Health Care Directive, Living Will and the like on your key chain or in your telephone so that they can always be downloaded and printed in the hospital and placed in your chart.  No hunting around for those papers in the middle of the night. This idea, of course, is excellent and applies to everyone regardless of their marital status, etc.

And don’t stop with your health decision documents.  You should consider having these documents at the ready as well:

  • Credit card numbers
  • Bank account numbers
  • Insurance policy numbers
  • Social security cards and correspondenc
  • Automobile license plate numbers and registration cards
  • Drivers’ license numbers
  • Automobile titles
  • Birth Certificates
  • Death Certificates
  • Marriage Licenses
  • Passports
  • Copies of wills
  • Home loan information
  • Personal loan information
  • Stock/bond certificates
  • Real estate deeds and titles
  • Savings Bonds
  • Divorce/custody/adoption papers
  • Tax returns
  • Armed services papers
  • Benefits information
  • Medical records
  • Immunization records
  • Pharmaceutical prescriptions
  • Eyeglass prescriptions
  • Important receipts
  • Business incorporation record
  • Business contracts
  • Computer backups
  • Household inventory
  • Funeral wishes
  • Address book with numbers for friends, relatives,
    attorney, accountant, broker, doctors, vet, etc.
  • Additional vital records as per your situation

Your phone should be be password protected, as should the thumb drive, in case it is stolen or lost.