[hr text=”Health Care Proxy”]
A Health Care Proxy is a document that allows you to designate a person to make health care decisions for you if you cannot make them for yourself. These decisions can involve the management of your health care in order to keep you healthy. They can also involve the termination of life support.
In New York, there is a standardized Health Care Proxy form that allows an individual to appoint one agent and one alternate. As with the Durable Power of Attorney, deciding whom to select as agent can be difficult. Preferably, a person should consider someone who is well informed enough to manage the health care system. Given the large-level bureaucracies that exist among New York’s health care institutions, the health care agent should be patient, yet persevering, as it can take time and effort to make sure that the right level of care is being provided to the individual.