If you’d like to choose an agent to help you make medical decisions or to make them on your behalf when you can’t do so, you can do this with a medical power of attorney. This can give someone who otherwise wouldn’t be able to make these decisions the ability to act when needed.
For instance, if you suffer an injury or illness that leaves you without the cognitive ability to talk to the doctors and make decisions, you know that someone else is going to do it for you and that they are going to make the choices you would have wanted to make if you were able to do it.
But who should you choose?
Deciding who to choose can be difficult, and here are a few things you want to think about as you do so:
- They need to care about you and agree to make decisions with your best interests in mind.
- They need to agree to adhere to what you would have wanted, even when they would have wanted something else.
- They need to be close enough to the situation that they can be involved when necessary.
- They need to be emotionally and intellectually able to make these difficult choices.
They need to be willing to do this, even when it’s hard. Remember, even someone who loves you very much may not be the right person if this is just too challenging for them.
Setting up a medical power of attorney in advance is one of the key parts of estate planning that can help you ensure that your future goes the way that you want it to go. Make sure you know exactly who to choose and all of the legal steps to take so that you can get this document in place.
