Unless you limit your health care agent's authority, your agent will be able to make any health care decision that you could have made if you were able to decide for yourself. Your agent can agree that you should receive treatment, choose among different treatments and decide that treatments should not be provided, in accordance with your wishes and interests.

Your agent must follow your wishes, as well as your moral and religious beliefs. You may write instructions on your Health Care Proxy form or simply discuss them with your agent.

Your health care agent would begin to make health care decisions after your doctor decides that you are not able to make your own health care decisions. As long as you are able to make health care decisions for yourself, you will have the right to do so.

No. The power of a health care agent to make health care decisions on your behalf ends upon your death. Noting your wishes on your Health Care Proxy form allows you to clearly state your wishes about organ and tissue donation.

You may appoint an alternate agent to decide for you if your health care agent is unavailable, unable or unwilling to act when decisions must be made. Otherwise, health care providers will make health care decisions for you that follow instructions you gave while you were still able to do so. Any instructions that you write on your Health Care Proxy form will guide health care providers under these circumstances.

No. Your health care agent will not be liable for health care decisions made in good faith on your behalf. Also, he or she cannot be held liable for costs of your care, just because he or she is your agent.

If you become unable, even temporarily, to make health care decisions, someone else must decide for you. Health care providers often look to family members for guidance. Family members may express what they think your wishes are related to a particular treatment. However, in New York State, only a health care agent you appoint has the legal authority to make treatment decisions if you are unable to decide for yourself.

All competent adults, 18 years of age or older, can appoint a health care agent by signing a form called a Health Care Proxy. You don't need a lawyer or a notary, just two adult witnesses. Your agent cannot sign as a witness. You can use the form printed here, but you don't have to use this form.

Anyone 18 years of age or older can be a health care agent. The person you are appointing as your agent or your alternate agent cannot sign as a witness on your Health Care Proxy form.

Having an open and frank discussion about your wishes with your health care agent will put him or her in a better position to serve your interests. If your agent does not know your wishes or beliefs, your agent is legally required to act in your best interest.

Yes. You will be able to make your own health care decisions as long as you are capable of doing so. Unless you expressly authorized your agent to speak even when you have capacity, your Agent’s authority starts only when your doctor certifies in writing that you do not have the capacity to make health care decisions.

Yes, if that is one of the powers conveyed to your agent under your power of attorney. Most states, however, provide for a health care directive or a health care proxy, which is essentially a power of attorney for health care decisions. This is a separate document from a power of attorney for financial purposes. The preferred practice is to have a durable power of attorney for financial purposes and a health care directive for medical decisions.

Appointing a health care agent is a good idea even though you are not elderly or terminally ill. A health care agent can act on your behalf if you become even temporarily unable to make your own health care decisions (such as might occur if you are under general anesthesia or have become comatose because of an accident). When you again become able to make your own health care decisions, your health care agent will no longer be authorized to act.

No. Your agent is obligated to make decisions based on your wishes. If you clearly expressed particular wishes, or gave particular treatment instructions, your agent has a duty to follow those wishes or instructions unless he or she has a good faith basis for believing that your wishes changed or do not apply to the circumstances.

Absolutely. As long as you are physically and mentally able to make decisions about your medical treatment, care facility admission, and personal assistant services you can include them in your Will. When you are making these decisions, you need to consider realistically what types of long-term treatments you would consent to.

A separate power of attorney for healthcare can be written giving your agent the authority to make health care decisions for you, if and when you are unable to make them.

ANSWER: If the patient is comatose and there is no reasonable possibility that he will return to a cognitive state or is mentally incapacitated and 1) it is determined by the attending physician that the person's present condition is terminal and incurable or diagnosed as a persistent vegetative state; and 2) there is confirmation of the person's present condition in writing by a physician other than the attending physician; and 3) a vital function of the person could be restored by extraordinar.

You can make your specific wishes known to your health care agent in a conversation or in a separate personal wishes statement. You will not be able to consider every possible situation that might require your agent to act on your behalf, but you should let your agent know how you feel about those conditions, illnesses and treatments that concern you the most.

Yes. Your Advance Directive does not become effective until you are incapable of clearly expressing your own wishes. As long as you can do this, you have the right to make your own decisions.

The time to make an advance directive is before you are in a situation in which you would need one. In other words, before you become too sick to make your own choices and decisions about what medical care you want to receive or refuse. Young people as well as older people should consider making an advance directive. Advance directives can be changed or revoked and should be re-visited if you have been diagnosed with a serious illness.

You can appoint almost any adult to be your agent. You can choose a member of your family such as your spouse or an adult child, a friend, or someone else you trust. You can also appoint one or more "alternate agents" in case the person you select as your health care agent is unavailable or unwilling to make a decision. The law prohibits you from choosing certain people to act as your agent(s).

If you become unable to make your own health care decisions, your agent will have legal authority to make health care decisions for you. Your agent must make decisions that are consistent with any instructions you have written in the Advance Health Care Directive form or otherwise made known to your agent. Physicians and other health care professionals will look to your agent for decisions rather than your next of kin or any other person.

This is a very important question. Whomever you decide to name as your agent under your durable power of attorney for health care, it should be someone you know very well. It should also be someone you respect and someone who’s judgment you value. Moreover, the person you name as your agent should be somewhat knowledgeable about medical issues, although it’s not necessary that this person have any medical training.

Unless you limit his/her authority in the written health care directive, your Agent will be able to make almost every treatment decision for you in accordance with accepted medical practice that you could make, if you were able to do so. If your wishes are not known or can not be determined, your agent has the duty to act in your best interest in the performance of his/her duties.

You do, if you can make and communicate them. Your doctors should tell you about the treatment they recommend, other reasonable alternatives, and important medical risks and benefits of that treatment. You have the right to decide what health care, if any, you will accept. You can still have some control over your health care decisions, if you have planned ahead.

None. A power of attorney only allows the making of health care decisions when the document specifically states that the right to make medical or health care decisions is included.

In Arizona, a surrogate decision-maker can make most medical decisions. However, a surrogate decision-maker cannot decide to remove artificial nutrition that has been started. Legally, only the person, a Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney or a Guardian can authorize the stopping of artificial nutrition. The decision to withhold or withdraw any other treatment can be made by any surrogate.

The decision will be based on eligibility criteria - a set of standards that determine how vulnerable a person is, what risk they face, now and in the future. Priorities for help depend on the level of need, based on the immediate and longer-term risks to the person. Priorities are needed to make sure resources are used fairly and wisely. Further information about these standards are provided in the fair access to care services (word) brochure.

Each of the 23,000 local units selects the programs and activities that it will undertake to address the needs of its local school and children. While PTA's national office creates many successful programs for local units to use, there are no PTA-mandated programs. State and National PTA provide support to help the local PTAs succeed.