Choosing Your Health Care Agent

This month, we are working on advance care planning. Dust off that paperwork and review, update, share, and discuss as needed.

The most important decision you can make and have on paper TODAY is choosing a health care agent. A health care agent (HCA), also called health care surrogate, health care proxy, or durable power of attorney for health care (DPOA-HC), is a person you designate to make health care decisions on your behalf and advocate for you when you are unable to do so yourself. Ideally, in most cases, you will be able to make your own health care decisions, speak to medical teams, ask questions, and do your own research to determine what is best for you in a given circumstance. Under conditions when you are not able to make or voice your own decisions, it is essential that you have someone who can do this for…