Wyoming Emergency Room and Hospital Consent for Grandparents

Your grandchild falls off a trampoline and needs stitches. Or spikes a fever that will not come down. Or breaks an arm at the playground. You drive to the emergency room — and someone at the desk asks who has authority to consent to treatment.

If you are a grandparent or relative raising a child in Wyoming without a custody order, here is what happens at the hospital and what paperwork matters.

Emergency Treatment Does Not Require Your Consent

Wyoming's physician-discipline law recognizes an emergency exception when the patient's or legally designated representative's consent cannot reasonably be obtained (W.S. § 33-26-402(a)(S)).

This exception is based on whether consent can reasonably be obtained, not on the accompanying adult's relationship to the child. A broken bone, a deep laceration, anaphylaxis, difficulty breathing, a head injury — the ER team acts first.

An accompanying grandparent does not need a power of attorney, guardianship order, or parental delegation to supply consent when the emergency exception applies.

What Happens After the Emergency

The statute does not define the exception by a fixed stabilization point. Once consent from the patient or a legally authorized representative can reasonably be obtained, that emergency exception no longer applies. Continued treatment then requires consent from someone authorized by law, including a minor when W.S. § 14-1-101(b) applies, for:

• Hospital admission once consent can reasonably be obtained
• Follow-up surgeries or procedures
• Ongoing treatment plans
• Prescription medications for post-discharge care
• Transfers to another facility

At this point, the hospital's risk management team will ask who can authorize continued care. If you do not have a court order or a notarized parental delegation, the hospital may attempt to reach the biological parent. If the parent is unavailable, the hospital has a problem — and so do you.

The Intake Forms

When you arrive at the ER, you will be asked to fill out forms covering:

• Patient demographics — the child's name, date of birth, address
• Emergency contacts — who to call
• Insurance information — Medicaid, Kid Care CHIP, or private insurance
• Consent for treatment — this is where your authority matters

If the physician cannot reasonably obtain consent from the patient or a legally designated representative, the emergency exception may apply. When consent can reasonably be obtained, the hospital will need to know who is legally authorized to approve continued care.

What a Notarized Letter Can Do

If you have a notarized parental delegation letter that specifically authorizes medical care, present it at intake. Many hospitals will accept it for:

• Non-emergency follow-up care after stabilization
• Prescription authorization
• Discharge decisions
• Outpatient follow-up scheduling

A notarized letter is a Tier 2 consent instrument in Wyoming — providers can accept it at their discretion but are not legally required to. Large hospital systems with conservative risk management policies may still insist on reaching a parent or seeing a court order.

HIPAA and Medical Information

Under HIPAA (45 C.F.R. § 164.502(g)), if a court order authorizes you to make health-care decisions for the child, the hospital generally treats you as the child's personal representative. Exceptions include cases where state law lets the minor consent to the particular service, or the provider reasonably believes treating you as representative could endanger the child.

Without a court order, your access to the child's medical records and treatment information depends on the hospital's interpretation of your role. Most emergency departments will communicate with the adult who brought the child in, but they may restrict access to detailed records or test results.

Pharmacies follow a related but more flexible rule: HIPAA permits relative caregivers to pick up filled prescriptions on behalf of a minor if the pharmacist determines the person is acting for the patient — no formal POA required for pickup.

Insurance Does Not Equal Authority

If the child has Medicaid or Kid Care CHIP, the insurance will cover the emergency visit. But coverage and consent are separate. The insurance card pays the bill; it does not authorize you to make medical decisions for the child once the emergency is over.

Preparing Before the Emergency

The best time to sort out your consent paperwork is before you need the emergency room. If you are a grandparent or relative raising a child in Wyoming:

• Keep a notarized parental delegation letter in your wallet or purse, with a copy in the glove box
• Make sure the school and the child's primary care provider have copies on file
• Consider filing for temporary guardianship under W.S. §§ 3-2-301–303 — it gives you court-appointed authority to make medical-care decisions within the order's scope

Our Wyoming School and Medical Consent Guide walks through every consent instrument you need to have in place, with preparation checklists for both the delegation route and the court-order route.

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