Is Your Health Care Proxy Signed?
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-08-02 13:24:45.831550-04:00
You're never too young (or old) to execute a health care proxy—the legally binding paper that lets you appoint a person who will make medical decisions on your behalf if you become critically ill and lose the capacity to make those decisions.
For Lisa Valente, 28, of East Meadow, executing her health care proxy was the "important first step" to plan for the future, even before doing a will. Without an appointed health care agent, you will receive maximum medical care, even if it conflicts with your wishes. Valente wants to make sure that her husband can carry out her wishes if she can't.
"A health care proxy is an integral part of your estate and disability plan," said Ellen Makofsky, an elder law attorney in Garden City. "It makes a plan for your body, not your finances."
Makofsky added that it is important that state residents fill out a New York State-specific document rather than a generic proxy. She recommends that you:
- Select an agent and substitute agent to carry out your wishes.
- Notify the agent of your wishes.
- Provide copies of the signed document to your agent(s) and physicians.
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