Before you begin!
Objective: Understand the role and responsibilities of a Medical Power of Attorney or healthcare agent and how to choose one. There are many different names for this:
Healthcare Proxy - Durable Medical Power of Attorney - Healthcare Agent - Surrogate Decision Maker - Medical Power of Attorney.
We will refer to this as your decision maker for simplification for the remainder of this course.
It's important to clarify, this individual is ONLY granted medical decision making and has NO say in a person's finances, assets or property! Those are part of a Power of Attorney, which is a legal document that appoints an individual for that purpose. This can be the same person, but it is not automatically. Assigning a Power of Attorney is done using a different document. That individual can be referred to an executor, trustee, guardian, conservator, or wealth manager. This is not covered in this course.
The Role of a Proxy:
This is the person you choose to make healthcare decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself.
Responsibilities include communicating with doctors, making decisions in line with your preferences, and ensuring your wishes are followed.
Choosing a Healthcare Agent:
Pick someone who understands your values, who is willing to follow your wishes even if they differ from their own. Often this a spouse or significant other, but can be anyone a person prefers.
It’s important to have open discussions with your proxy to ensure they fully understand your preferences.
When approaching someone for this role, help them to understand how important this is for you, and how grateful you are.
Respect their choice, if they chose to decline the responsibility.