Healthcare power of attorney can help you ensure that your wishes are followed.
Caring for an elderly relative can be a challenging responsibility. Before a relative passes away, healthcare power of attorney can give trusted relatives the power to manage the medical affairs of their aging or ailing relative. Working with an experienced estate planning lawyer at The Millman Law Group will help you outline your wishes for your healthcare power of attorney. If you still have questions about this feature, read on for a few answers to common concerns.
Why Should I Consider a Healthcare Power of Attorney?
If you have wishes about your healthcare, power of attorney can ensure that those wishes are honored even if you become physically unable to tell your doctors what you want. Even if you haven’t outlined specific choices, when you give someone you trust this power, they will make the decisions they know you would make.
What Decisions Can My Agent Make?
Your specified agent can make a wide range of healthcare decisions for you, including:
- Who has access to your medical history
- Whether to admit or discharge you from care
- Which treatments or medicines you do or do not want to receive
Your agent will only make these decisions if you cannot make them yourself, and they must follow your expressed written wishes when making the decisions.
Who Should Be My Agent?
You can select anyone over age 18 who is not your doctor or care provider. You should definitely choose someone you can trust to carry out your wishes no matter how difficult making some decisions might be.
You can also appoint co-agents or successive agents. However, it may be more complex if you select multiple agents, so it’s best to consider how these people can work together.
What Makes This Different From a Living Will?
Healthcare power of attorney allows you to appoint a person to make healthcare decisions for you when you cannot. A living will is similar, but that document only outlines your wish to have certain types of care withheld or withdrawn in certain situations. Healthcare power of attorney covers more conditions and is more specific. However, you may likely wish to add both documents to your estate plan. Your Millman Law Group lawyer can help you navigate the details of both of these crucial estate planning tools.
Estate Planning Made Easy With Millman Law Group
Millman Law Group, PLLC is rare because it’s one of the only law firms that offer life planning in South Florida. From life care planning to the preparation of detailed estate plans, Millman Law Group has committed to serving Floridian elderly communities in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, Ocean Ridge, Hillsboro Beach, and many other areas since 2018. Our dedicated team also specializes in special needs trusts and catering to any age demographic because we know for certain it’s never too early to start preparing you and your family for your future. For the latest news in estate planning and elder care law, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and Pinterest. You can also contact us at 561-463-6480.