Consumer Issues
Choosing an Effective Health Care Agent
By
Nov 12, 2009 - 1:07:33 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Choosing someone to carry out your health care wishes when you cannot is a big decision. There are many important factors you need to consider. The Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will: Protect Your Right to Make Crucial Health Care Decisions, a new report from Harvard Medical School, takes out some of the guesswork, with tips for choosing and working with a health care agent.

A health care agent makes medical decisions on your behalf when you are unable to make them. Filling out an advance directive worksheet that describes your health care goals and wishes, particularly for end-of-life care, can be quite helpful. This document can guide your health care agent if an accident or illness renders you unable to communicate.

When choosing a health care agent, you need to be aware of the laws in your state. In most states, a person must be 18 or older to serve as a health care agent. Your attending physician—or, in some states, any health care practitioner working with you in a medical facility or nursing home—cannot serve as your agent. Some states won’t allow you to appoint someone who is already serving as the agent for 10 or more others, unless he or she is your spouse or a close relative.

You can rule candidates out—or in—by answering a few questions:

Do you trust this person?
Does this person understand your wishes and feel comfortable going along with them?
Will this person be too emotionally involved to make important decisions? Consider whether a close relative will have trouble carrying out certain wishes—for instance, if you want a do-not-resuscitate order.
Can this person manage potential conflict among family members?
Is this person able and willing to be persistent with doctors and stand up for your wishes?
Does this person live close by? It’s possible to carry out the duties of a health care agent by phone, but it helps to be available in person.
Also in this report:

Creating your health care proxy or living will
Talking about your wishes
Tips for being an effective health care agent
Definitions of common medical procedures and organ-sustaining measures
Privacy rules and health care proxies
Forms: Health Care Power of Attorney, Health Decisions Worksheet, Advance Care Directives Tracking Sheet
Pitfalls, fixes, and tips for tough conversations

The Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will is available for $18 from Harvard Health Publications (www.health.harvard.edu), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School. Order it online at www.health.harvard.edu/LivingWill or by calling 877–649–9457 (toll-free).

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