It is suggested today that seniors living in America have healthcare proxies. A healthcare proxy allows an individual to designate another person to help him or her make decisions regarding healthcare in the event he or she becomes incapable of making those decisions. Healthcare proxies are designed to allow a person when they are cognizant of the potential issues they may face to authorize someone else to make decisions reflecting their wishes should they be incapacitated and unable to make those decisions on their own. These decisions deal with medical treatment and medical procedures.
The Principal
The person making the healthcare proxy is called the principal. The person the principal nominates to help him or her make decisions is called the agent. The principal can appoint one or more individuals to act as his or her agents. The way the law is set up in New York, the principal nominates one person to act as his or her agent and if that one person does not serve or cannot serve then a successor agent is authorized to serve.
Ultimate Decisions
The ultimate decision an agent makes with a healthcare proxy is whether to turn off a life support machine when it is certified by the principal’s physician that he or she is brain dead and will never be able to recover. These life support machines which are keeping bodies functioning for brain dead individuals are prolonging death and not prolonging life.
