{"id":246,"date":"2021-04-19T15:25:08","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T19:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/?p=246"},"modified":"2021-04-24T12:40:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T16:40:27","slug":"246","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/?p=246","title":{"rendered":"The Case for Designating a Medical Power of Attorney:"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What Is a Medical Power of Attorney or a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

These terms can be used interchangeably to mean a person who is appointed by you (or a court) who specifically oversees your medical concerns when you are unable to do so yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why would it be important to designate a Medical Power of Attorney<\/strong>?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You might designate a financial power of attorney and wrongly assume they can also handle your medical needs when they arise. The fact is, only a medical power of attorney or durable power of attorney for healthcare<\/strong> is officially appointed to speak to your medical needs when you are incapacitated. You should designate a person who knows your desires regarding medical care and end of life care, and someone willing to follow your wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you have a living will,<\/strong> it will only take effect if you are in a persistent vegetative state and not expected to recover. As you can imagine, there are many situations where you might be incapacitated and need a MPOA to speak on your behalf.<\/strong> Some examples of these situations include: surgery, stroke, dementia, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do I decide who should be my MPOA?<\/strong> Make sure the designee:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. Knows your medical history <\/li>
  2. Knows how you wish to be cared for in the event you are unable to make decisions for yourself.<\/li>
  3. Will adhere to your wishes despite religious or moral differences. <\/li>
  4. Will be available if the need arises to give full attention to your medical decisions.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    As a plus, has the designee worked in senior healthcare or with the elderly?<\/strong> If so, he or she has likely garnered extensive knowledge about senior medical needs and welfare, working with medical disciplines across the spectrum of care, and care coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    KEY TAKEAWAYS:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    • A living will only takes effect when you are deemed to be in a persistent vegetative state and not expected to improve<\/strong>.<\/li>
    • Assuming “everyone knows”<\/strong> what you want puts your future health at risk<\/strong> should you become incapacitated. Each person might remember your wishes differently, or not remember them at all. <\/li>
    • A designated medical power of attorney<\/strong> (NOT financial or other) will be the one person to oversee your medical needs if you are rendered incapable. <\/li>
    • Make sure your MPOA knows your wishes<\/strong> regarding medical care and end if life care, and<\/strong> is willing to follow your instructions.<\/strong><\/li>
    • Having a MPOA will help medical providers know who they can legally talk to and rely on regarding coordinating your care<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      I am ready to designate my medical power of attorney. Now what?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      There are a few options for getting your MPOA assigned on the proper documents. First, you can look for free on-line forms (making sure they are the forms for your specific state). Second, you can speak to your attorney, or find an attorney to draw up the documents for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      What Is a Medical Power of Attorney or a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare? These terms can be used interchangeably to mean a person who is appointed by you (or a court) who specifically oversees your medical concerns when you are unable to do so yourself. Why would it be important to designate a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[92,91,89,95,102,86,97,93,99,87,85,94,104,88,103,100,96,98],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-care-insights","tag-attorney","tag-decisions","tag-designee","tag-end-of-life","tag-financial-power-of-attorney","tag-healthcare-power-of-attorney","tag-incapacitated","tag-legal-form","tag-living-will","tag-medical","tag-medical-power-of-attorney","tag-medical-wishes","tag-mpoa","tag-needs","tag-poa","tag-risk","tag-vegetative-state","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287,"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions\/287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyshomecare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}