A woman who recently lost her husband faces many legal and financial problems. One of those issues is who will make medical decisions for her if she can’t do it for herself. If she made medical decisions for her husband before her death, she is well aware of the difficulties her family will face if she does not have a living will and a current power of attorney.

A medical power of attorney appoints a family member or other trusted person to make medical decisions if you are unable to make decisions for yourself. A living will is a document that expresses your wishes regarding the use of artificial life support if there is no reasonable expectation of recovery. In other words, you designate the decision maker in a medical power of attorney and tell the decision maker what decisions you want them to make in a living will.

A health care proxy and a patient advocate designation are different names for essentially the same document.

Important points

· You cannot sign a power of attorney if you are incompetent; so planning ahead is essential.
· Appoint an alternate person to act in case the first person you name is not available or unable to do so.
The person you name as your proxy should know how you feel about artificial life support if there is no reasonable expectation of your recovery. Your job is to communicate your decision to the doctors, not their decision.
· You will help your family, especially the person you name to make decisions for you, if you tell them personally how you feel about artificial life support.

Everyone should have a medical power of attorney. Otherwise, no one is authorized to make medical decisions if you are unable to make them for yourself. Doctors and hospitals often allow one spouse to make decisions for the other spouse without a power of attorney. But doctors and hospitals generally won’t let children, siblings, parents, or friends make medical decisions for someone else without a medical power of attorney.