The Health Care Declaration and Powers of Attorney, often called a Health Care Power of Attorney, is another key document that is part of one’s estate planning “suite” of documents, along with a Financial Power of Attorney and a Will.
The need for a Health Care Power of Attorney has increased in recent years. Doctors and other medical professionals regularly request that their patients provide a signed Health Care Power of Attorney for their files. Upon admission to a hospital or nursing home, it is now common practice to either produce your own executed Health Care Power of Attorney, or sign a form required by and produced by the attorneys of that particular institution.
A standard Health Care Power of Attorney document generally includes the following: a section specifying the specific powers granted to the fiduciary, a section where the signer may elaborate on what sort of care they wish to have provided to them in an end-of-life situation, and whether the signer wishes to donate any organs or tissue following death.
Because it allows an individual to specify what end-of-life care regimen should be followed when that time comes, the Health Care Power of Attorney is an effective document that gives the fiduciary named in the document some peace of mind when having to make these health care decisions under stressful times.