Canton Healthcare Surrogate Lawyer
A healthcare surrogate, otherwise known as a healthcare power of attorney, is a trusted person chosen to represent your medical care wishes should you ever become incapacitated and unable to advocate for yourself. Healthcare surrogates are often used alongside advanced directives, which can be used to narrow the surrogate’s decision-making ability in certain circumstances, the goal being to ensure that you get the treatment that you want. Canton healthcare surrogate lawyer Brian S. Karpe has assisted countless clients in their estate planning, elder care, and end of life planning stages, and creating a healthcare surrogate is certainly a good option to pursue in order to maintain control over your own health.
Healthcare Surrogates For Those Who are Chronically Ill or at Risk of Incapacitation
If you have a chronic medical condition, or another condition that puts you at risk of becoming incapacitated, a healthcare surrogate can help to ensure that your medical wishes are carried out. A few examples of those you would certainly benefit from having a healthcare surrogate include:
- Those who have a degenerative condition, such as cancer, heart failure, or high stroke risk, that puts them at risk of incapacitation
- Those going into surgery or risky surgeries
- Those with mental health conditions that put them at risk of making poor healthcare choices
- Those with mental health conditions who may be deemed incompetent and therefore barred from making their own healthcare choices
- Those with Alzheimer’s or dementia
What a Healthcare Surrogate Lawyer Does
The first priority of an experienced healthcare surrogate lawyer is to inform you of your options. Next, they will help you choose a healthcare surrogate who is up for the job, and appoint the healthcare surrogate by drafting a healthcare power of attorney. Without the proper legal documents in place, the healthcare surrogate will not actually be able to make medical decisions if you become incapacitated.
Your Health Care Surrogate Options
When choosing a healthcare surrogate, you need to keep in mind that person’s availability to come at a moment’s notice, the proximity of where they live in regards to where you live, their understanding of what your wishes are, and their reliability to make good decisions in stressful times. As such, healthcare surrogates are usually spouses, adult children, or other close family members or friends.
Advanced Directives Work Alongside Healthcare Surrogates
A healthcare surrogate can be used to make decisions alongside an advanced directive (living will). The advanced directive is a written, legally binding document that details the end of life care that you wish to receive. As such, a healthcare surrogate can be trusted to make decisions while you are incapacitated and there is a chance at your recovery, while an advanced directive takes over for the surrogate if your condition is permanent and you will not regain consciousness.
Reach Out to a Canton Healthcare Surrogate Lawyer Today
No one wants to spend a lot of time thinking of their own incapacitation, but planning for the future—however grim—will give you and your loved ones a sense of security surrounding your healthcare choices. Call Canton healthcare surrogate lawyer Brian S. Karpe. Call today at 860-217-1458 to schedule a free consultation.
