DO I NEED A HEALTH CARE PROXY? LEGAL SERVICES What Is A Health Care Proxy?
Why Should I Choose A Health Care Agent?
A Health Care Proxy is a document which allows you to appoint someone you trust to decide health treatment alternatives if you are unable to decide for yourself. That person becomes your health care agent.
If you become too sick to make health care decisions, someone else must make them for you. Health care professionals often look to family members for guidance. However, without your authority, family members are not allowed to decide what you would have chosen. Appointing a health care agent lets you control your medical treatment.
Will The Health Care Proxy Be Recognized In New York? Yes. The New York Health Care Proxy Law gives you the power to appoint an agent in order to make sure health care professionals follow your wishes. Your agent can also decide how to apply your wishes as your medical condition changes. Hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers must follow your agent’s decision as if they were your own.
What If I Change My Mind? It is easy to cancel your Health Care Proxy, to change your health care agent, or to change any treatment instructions included in your Health Care Proxy. In addition, you can require that the Health Care Proxy expire on a certain date or if certain events occur. Otherwise, the Health Care Proxy will be valid indefinitely. If you choose your spouse as your health care agent and you get divorced or legally separated, the proxy is automatically cancelled.
How Can I Appoint A Health Care Agent? All competent adults can appoint a health care agent by signing a Health Care Proxy. You should have your attorney prepare the Health Care Proxy in accord with your wishes to ensure it is given full effect under the law.
What Decisions Can My Health Care Agent Make? Unless you ask your attorney to limit your health care agent’s authority, your agent will be able to make any treatment decisions that you could have made yourself. Your agent can agree that you should receive treatment, choose amongst different treatments, and decide which treatments should not be provided in accord with your interests as expressed in the Health Care Proxy.
This is not intended to be legal advice. You should contact an attorney to discuss your specific situation.