What is a Health Care Proxy?

A Health Care Proxy is an essential legal document that allows you to appoint someone you trust—referred to as your “health care agent”—to make medical decisions on your behalf if you lose the ability to do so yourself. This person could be a family member, close friend, or anyone you trust to fulfill your health care wishes. The Health Care Proxy ensures that your medical preferences are followed, even if you’re unable to communicate them directly due to illness or injury.

Why is a Health Care Proxy Important?

1. Ensures Your Wishes Are Respected: By appointing a health care agent, you can make sure your health care providers follow your specific preferences, whether that’s continuing treatment, opting for comfort care, or anything in between. Your agent can adapt decisions based on your wishes as your medical condition changes.
2. Offers Flexibility: You can decide how much authority to give your agent. You might grant them the power to make all health care decisions, or only certain ones—such as consenting to specific treatments or refusing life-sustaining interventions. Additionally, the form allows you to provide specific instructions that your agent must follow.
3. Organ and Tissue Donation: The Health Care Proxy Form also allows you to document your preferences regarding organ and/or tissue donation, ensuring that your wishes in this sensitive area are known and respected.

What You Need to Know About the Health Care Proxy Form

Before signing a Health Care Proxy form, it’s crucial to understand how it works:

• Scope of Authority: Your agent is authorized to make all health care decisions for you unless you specify otherwise. This includes decisions regarding life-sustaining treatments such as mechanical ventilation, dialysis, or artificial nutrition (feeding tubes or IV hydration).
• Limits on Authority: Your agent needs to reasonably know your wishes about artificial nutrition or hydration to make decisions regarding these treatments. Therefore, it’s important to discuss these preferences explicitly.
• When the Proxy Takes Effect: Your agent will only begin making decisions once your doctor determines that you are unable to make medical decisions on your own. Until that time, you retain full control over your health care choices.
• Customizing Your Care: You can write specific instructions on the form about treatments you wish to avoid or treatments you want to ensure you receive. This helps limit your agent’s decision-making power and provides a clear guide for your care.
• No Lawyer Required: Filling out the Health Care Proxy form does not require legal assistance. The process is simple, and any adult—whether a family member, friend, or trusted individual—can act as your agent.

Special Considerations When Choosing Your Health Care Agent

• Eligibility: Any adult (18 years or older) can serve as your health care agent, except for certain restrictions if you are a patient in a hospital, nursing home, or mental health facility. In such cases, facility employees may only be allowed to serve as your agent if they meet specific criteria.
• Conflict of Interest: If you choose a doctor as your health care agent, they cannot act as both your agent and your attending physician. Therefore, they will have to choose one role over the other.
• Spouse and Divorce: If you appoint your spouse as your health care agent and then divorce or legally separate, your spouse will no longer be your agent by default unless you specifically state otherwise on your form.

Discussing Your Wishes with Your Agent

It’s important to have a clear conversation with the person you wish to appoint as your agent. They need to be willing to take on this responsibility and understand your wishes in detail. Ensure they receive a signed copy of the form and encourage an open dialogue about your preferences for medical care. This will help them make decisions in line with your desires if the time comes. It’s also important to note that your agent cannot be held legally liable for decisions made in good faith.

Your Rights as a Patient

Even after signing a Health Care Proxy form, you retain the right to make your own health care decisions as long as you’re able. If you can make decisions, your agent cannot override your choices. Additionally, you can revoke your agent’s authority at any time, either by informing them or your health care provider, orally or in writing.

Voluntary and Flexible

Appointing a health care agent is a personal decision—no one can require you to have one. The Health Care Proxy form gives you the flexibility to outline your preferences regarding your care and organ and tissue donation. Having a signed form ensures that your health care is provided according to your wishes, regardless of the circumstances.

Having a Health Care Proxy is one of the best ways to safeguard your autonomy and ensure that your medical treatment aligns with your values and preferences. Make sure your voice is heard, even when you can’t speak for yourself.