Being Sure Your Voice Is Heard

In an extreme emergency, one may arrive at the hospital unconscious. During the course of treatment for severe illness, you may not be in a position to tell others your wishes for medical care. What can you do? At this point, you would need someone or something to act as a substitute for your own voice. A health care proxy can do this.

The Basics

A proxy is defined as: "A person authorized to act for another; an agent or a substitute. . . . Written authorization to act in place of another." Proxies can be used in a variety of ways and cover many areas of life. A health care proxy is used to define specifics of health care choices that one desires. It is filled out in advance and is very helpful in giving the doctors legal precedence to care for you according to your wishes even if a choice may conflict with the doctor's desire. Such a proxy speaks as effectively as if you were speaking yourself.

Once filled out, the proxy should be kept in a safe place with other legal documents, such as a marriage license, birth certificate, and last will and testament. With a health care proxy, there are those who are designated as witnesses and those who will act as your voice during difficulties. It is important that these people also have a copy of the proxy for their files in case they may be called to represent you.

Working With Other Forms

There are many other legal forms and agents that come into play, and some of these you may already be familiar with. There is a Living Will, an advance medical directive, a health care agent, a power of attorney, and now a health care proxy. Why all of these different items? Can I just fill out one and not be bothered with the rest? How do they work together?

Imagine a factory that makes automobiles. At first glance, it would seem that each of the workers are the same, clones on an assembly line. However, each of these persons has a different skill. There are those that know how to work with upholstery and others that are skilled with installing windshields. It takes every type of worker to make a good car. The same is true for seeing that your desires are properly represented in a crisis.

An advance medical directive is good for relating a wish about a certain medical therapy, such as the desire to avoid blood. Unfortunately, it quickly falls short in defining more aspects about the care to receive. A health care proxy takes over where an advanced medical directive falls short by providing additional information on choices of care that a patient has expressed. A health care agent is a person who is given authority to carry out the tenets of the health care proxy and other wishes of the patient. This is further enhanced by the presence of a power of attorney. This allows another individual to have complete legal rights to act in behalf another, either medically or regarding all legal aspects of an individual's life. Lastly, a living will helps a person define certain choices about aspects of care that are associated with end-of- life decisions.

Just Do It!

No one likes to think about being in a medical crisis, but it is always important to be prepared. Having all of the paperwork filled out in advance is the only way to ensure that your will is carried out. Otherwise, you may find yourself waking up only to find that you have been violated and your conscience scarred. A bit of time taken now will bring you much comfort in the future.