Unless you limit your agent’s authority, he or she can make any treatment decisions you could make. What decisions can my health care agent make? Giving your agent the power to stop treatment when he or she decides it’s what you would want or what is best for you under the circumstances. The health care proxy lets you control your medical treatment by:Ĭhoosing one person over the age of 18 – even a non-family member if you feel it’s best – to make decisions for you Įnsuring your wishes are correctly carried out and If you become too sick to make health care decisions, someone must decide for you. You may include this information in your health care proxy. A “living will” is just a written statement of your wishes or instructions about health care treatment. Is a health care proxy the same as a living will? If you expect to be in another state, you should see whether its law will accept a New York health care proxy. Also, your choice of decision-maker might be different from the list in the Family Health Care Decisions Act (FHCDA). Your agent can decide how your wishes apply as your medical condition changes. It is important to name a health care agent because we all face health conditions we do not expect. If your wishes are not known, your agent must act in your best interests. Your agent must act according to your known wishes. Hospitals, doctors and other health care providers must follow your agent’s decisions as if they were your own. You can also use your health care proxy to say whether you want your organs (or certain organs) to be donated if you die. You may include your wishes or instructions if you choose to. You can give your health care agent as little or as much authority as you want to decide about all or only specific health care treatments. You can appoint a family member, a close friend, or anyone you choose. The Health Care Proxy Law lets you appoint a competent adult to make decisions about your medical treatment in the event you lose the ability to decide for yourself – including decisions to remove or provide life-sustaining treatment. To fill out and discuss with your loved ones.įamily Health Care Decisions Act, Health Care Proxy Law It also contains an actual health care proxy form for you This brochure explains allĪbout health care proxies and the FHCDA. However, even with the new law, signing a health care proxy is still best. This new law empowers family members to make decisions in those difficult cases. The Health Care Proxy Law, which I authored several years ago,Īllows you to sign a “health care proxy” and name your “health care agent.” This simple formĪlso allows you to include other wishes and instructions, including whether you want to be anīecause many people never sign a health care proxy (and some do not have the capacity toĭo so), last year the legislature enacted another bill I authored, the Family Health Care DecisionsĪct (FHCDA). In New York, you can appoint someone to make health care decisions for you if you loseĭecision-making capacity. When patients are not able to make their own health care decisions, who decides for them?
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