Healthcare Power of Attorney in Arizona
When you’re healthy and busy, it’s easy to put off thinking about what would happen if you were to get sick or injured in the future. Regardless of whether you have any current health concerns, it’s essential to be prepared for any circumstance — especially the possibility that you might become incapacitated and left unable to make decisions regarding your own care.
Thankfully, there’s an easy way to protect yourself. Let the Arizona estate planning lawyers at Brown & Hobkirk, PLLC draft a Healthcare Power of Attorney (POA) for you.
A Healthcare POA spells out your wishes if you become incapable. It also designates someone you trust to make decisions regarding your medical care when you cannot make them yourself.
It’s critical for any POA in Arizona to be drafted with care to ensure your directives are clear and that the document is legally enforceable. For more than 20 years, our Healthcare Power of Attorney lawyers have helped Arizonans make thoughtful and strategic decisions about their lives. Call or contact us today for a free consultation*.
What is a Healthcare Power of Attorney?
A Healthcare Power of Attorney is a document that gives someone the legal authority to make medical decisions on your behalf. These choices encompass everything from what kind of medication(s) you may receive and whether you should undergo a surgical procedure to critical end-of-life decisions should you fall into a coma or vegetative state. The person you designate to make these decisions is known as your proxy or healthcare agent.
Generally speaking, a Healthcare Power of Attorney is drafted to be durable, meaning it is still in effect even if you become incapacitated and cannot make healthcare decisions for yourself. While most courts generally assume a Healthcare Power of Attorney is durable, it’s good practice to make that explicit in the document itself.
Depending on where you live, a Healthcare POA may be known by other names, such as:
- Medical Power of Attorney
- Power of Attorney for healthcare
- Advance directive
- Advance healthcare directive
- Medical Power of Attorney directive
How Does a Healthcare POA work?
A durable Healthcare Power of Attorney remains in effect even if you cannot make medical decisions for yourself. There is also a “springing” Power of Attorney, which takes effect only when you become incapacitated.
Situations that may trigger a springing Healthcare POA into effect include when you:
- Experience complications under general anesthesia
- Suffer an illness or injury that leaves you unable to write or speak, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury
- Develop a degenerative neurological disease that compromises your ability to think and speak clearly, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease
Should these springing Powers be activated, whoever you’ve designated as your Healthcare proxy will have the legal authority to make medical decisions on your behalf.
Some people draft a Healthcare Power of Attorney so that the agent can only make decisions regarding certain kinds of treatments, while others structure the document in a way that gives the proxy wide-ranging authority. It all depends on your needs and how you want the document written.
Why Do You Need a Healthcare POA?
There are a few important reasons to create a Healthcare Power of Attorney, including:
- To give you peace of mind. In the eventuality that you become ill or injured in some way that leaves you incapacitated or unable to communicate, you don’t want critical life decisions made by strangers. A Healthcare POA puts those decisions in the hands of someone you trust. Without a Power of Attorney, your family will have to go to court so someone can make these decisions on your behalf. And if you haven’t made your wishes clear about end-of-life care, your family will be left guessing about want you want. With a well-crafted POA, you don’t have to worry.
- To prepare for major medical procedures. Even seemingly routine procedures can have complications. It’s always best to be prepared. Having a Healthcare Power of Attorney before the surgery will make it easier for your family to address any unexpected issues that may arise.
- To protect your wishes after being diagnosed with a degenerative illness. Progressive neurological diseases may eventually leave you unable to communicate or make reliable medical decisions on your own. A Healthcare POA saves you and your loved ones from unnecessary worry.
Healthcare POA vs. Guardianship vs. Living Will
A Healthcare Power of Attorney is similar to other legal documents, such as a guardianship agreement or living will. However, there are some key differences.
A Healthcare POA only extends to decisions regarding your Healthcare. Meanwhile, someone who’s been appointed as your legal guardian is responsible for making sure all of your needs are met ― not just medical ones. The courts typically only appoint a legal guardian if someone has not already made their healthcare wishes clear through a Power of Attorney.
A living will is a document outlining your wishes concerning end-of-life care, such as whether or not you should be resuscitated in a medical emergency. While a living will is important, it’s a narrow document that only applies to one aspect of your medical care. A Healthcare POA is broader. It can be combined with a living will into a single document known as an advance healthcare directive in many cases.
How to Get a Healthcare POA
Here are the basic steps involved in drafting a Healthcare Power of Attorney in Arizona:
- Decide who you want to be your Healthcare proxy and what decisions you want them to be able to make.
- Work with a Healthcare Power of Attorney lawyer to draft a POA that complies with Arizona laws. If the form is not completed correctly, it may be ruled invalid.
- Give a copy of the form to your proxy and your doctor. Your proxy will need to produce the form before they can make medical decisions for you.
- Keep additional copies of the form at home and with your attorney.
- Update the form as needed or as your medical situation changes.
Contact an Estate Planning Lawyer Today to Get Started on a Healthcare Power of Attorney
Life is unpredictable. The sooner you establish a Healthcare Power of Attorney, the better. You can get started today by working with an Arizona estate planning lawyer at Brown & Hobkirk, PLLC. To learn more, call our office or visit our contact page for a free case review.