Hutcheson v. Eskaton Fountainwood Lodge

*941This case turns on whether an attorney-in-fact made a "health care decision" by admitting her principal to a residential care facility for the elderly and, in the process, agreeing to an arbitration clause. If she did, as the trial court found, she acted outside the scope of her authority under the power of attorney, and the arbitration clause this appeal seeks to enforce is void.

To answer this question, we must define the scope of two statutes, the Power of Attorney Law ( Prob. Code, § 4000 et seq. (PAL)), and the Health Care Decisions Law ( Prob. Code, § 4600 et seq. (HCDL)), in light of…