What is a healthcare proxy?
A healthcare proxy is a document that names someone to make medical decisions for you if you become unable to decide.
A healthcare proxy names someone to make medical decisions for you.
Where the word "Healthcare Proxy" comes from
The healthcare proxy, also called a durable power of attorney for health care, developed alongside advance directives in the late twentieth century. It gives a trusted person the authority to speak with doctors and make treatment choices.
Why Healthcare Proxy matters
It ensures someone you trust can act quickly in a medical crisis, interpreting your wishes and consenting to treatment. Without it, doctors must wait for a guardian or follow a default family hierarchy that may not match your choice.
Common confusion about Healthcare Proxy
A healthcare proxy is not a financial power of attorney. It covers medical decisions only, and it does not control your money, so a complete plan needs both documents, and the people named in each can be different.
A real-world example of Healthcare Proxy
A man names his wife as his healthcare proxy. When he is in a car accident and unconscious, she tells the doctors about his preferences, approves surgery, and coordinates his care, exercising the authority the proxy grants.
A worked example of Healthcare Proxy
A single woman appoints her sister as healthcare proxy. When the woman is diagnosed with a condition that impairs her decision-making, her sister consults the specialists, agrees to a treatment plan, and insists on a second opinion, all within the proxy's authority. If a sibling disagrees with the sister's choices, the hospital follows the proxy's decisions, because the document, not the family hierarchy, controls.
How Healthcare Proxy works in practice
Name someone who knows your values, can handle stress, and will be available, and discuss your wishes with them in detail. Give your proxy and your doctor signed copies, and review the document when your relationships or health change. Consider naming a successor proxy in case the first is unavailable, because a medical crisis will not wait. Your proxy should also know where your advance directive is kept and should be willing to advocate for you with doctors, because the document is only as effective as the person who carries out its instructions.
Questions about Healthcare Proxy
Who can be a proxy?
Any competent adult you trust, often a spouse or adult child.
Does the proxy override my will?
They are different documents for different times.
Can I name two?
You can name a primary and alternates.
Does a proxy replace a living will?
No — the will states wishes; the proxy applies them.