Powers of Attorney for Health Care Decisions, aka Advance Health Care Directive

• Power of Attorney for Health Care (aka “Living Will”) allows the person to: 
  • Name someone who will carry out their wishes and make medical decisions for them.
  • State their health care wishes, including what to do if they are terminally ill and/or in a coma.
  • Specify whether they want their organs donated.
  • Specify how they want to be buried.
• Powers of Attorney become effective only once doctors or a judge determine that the person is incapacitated and is unable to make decisions on their own, and terminate at death. Thus, a person who is named as Agent under an Advance Health Care Directive doesn't have authority to act until a pronouncement of incapacity, and will lose authority to act at the time when capacity is regained, or at death.


• If there are no Powers of Attorney in place:
  • The person may not get the treatments they want.
  • The court may appoint someone who is not their first choice to make decisions for them.
  • The loved ones will have to make really hard decisions.  
  • The case may end up in court, and a judge who has no medical knowledge will be deciding what sort of care the person should receive.