Understanding the Role of a Medical Power of Attorney

• A medical power of attorney, or POA, is a legally appointed individual entrusted with the authority to make healthcare decisions in the event the designee becomes incapacitated. 
• The medical power of attorney carries out one’s wishes regarding end-of-life care. 
• Nurses must be aware of legal terms like medical power of attorney, living wills, and advanced directives to ensure they are providing appropriate care. 

Imagine if an accident or illness – or simply the effects and process of aging – leaves an individual unable to tell medical providers the kinds of medical treatments they want to receive.   

While no one can predict when situations like this may occur, they are inevitable and do affect many individuals and family members.  A medical power of attorney (POA) involves a legal document that lists and specifically names one person as the health care agent of another person.   

The agent has the capabilities of making health care decisions and has the responsibility of making certain that doctors and other medical personnel provide the appropriate care according to the wishes of the patient.   

Each individual does not know if he/she will be capable of making health care decisions regarding his/her care, so ensuring that the medical treatment(s) are listed in a professional document that specifies the exact treatment modalities desired involves great practice and planning.   

The medical power of attorney assists in taking the uncertainty and guesswork out of the medical care for each individual when one is unable to choose on his/her own.   

The following are important reminders when considering a medical power of attorney:  

• Who makes medical decisions if there is no power of attorney? 
• Does a medical power of attorney override a living will?  
• How is a medical power of attorney different than a durable power of attorney? 

Medical Decisions

Medical decisions can be a daunting task for anyone to make, especially when one is unable to make the desired healthcare decisions about his/her medical treatment.  If there is no medical power of attorney, the spouse of the patient (if married) will make the medical decisions.  If there is no spouse provided, typically the next individuals that make these decisions are parents and adult children.  

 It is important to note that this varies from state to state.  For example, in some states, if an individual is deemed incompetent or unable to communicate his or her preferred medical decisions and no representative or guardian has been appointed, medical decisions can be made by the attending physician with cooperation from one of the following people:  the patient’s spouse, an adult child that is available, one of the patient’s parents, or a nearest living relative.   

It is important to remember that these policies will differ from state to state.  

Medical Power of Attorney and Living Will

A medical power of attorney is by no means a document that has no limitations when considering the powers being granted.  It can be extremely helpful to allow someone to serve as a medical POA for healthcare decisions.   

Keep in mind that an individual can give a person as much or as little power as one prefers, but the key is to be extremely specific.  If not specific, the states can give comprehensive power over one’s end-of-life medical decisions.   

Someone with a medical POA will typically have the power to do the following: 

• Power to offer or deny consent for medical treatments as long as it does not go against anything with a living will 
• Power to decide what medical facilities one attends 
• Power to decide what doctors and medical personnel one prefers 
• Power to proceed to court on whether medical treatment should be received or withheld 
• Power to decide how one’s body will be handled after death, including organ donation 
• Visitation rights 
• Access to one’s medical records 

It is important to remember that if one has specific feelings on certain health matters, it is imperative to put those desires in a living will.  A living will always overrides the decisions of one’s medical POA relating to one’s healthcare.   

Each individual has the right to allow a person as much or as little authority to make medical decisions, but it is important to be mindful that if too many limitations are in place, the process can become difficult for those involved since a living will cannot possibly cover every scenario.  If an individual wants specificity, it is more beneficial to put those specifics in one’s living will in which the medical POA cannot override.

Medical POA vs Durable POA

A medical POA is a type of health care directive or a document that lists out one’s wishes for health care if one is too injured or ill to speak for him/herself.  When a medical POA is put in place, a trusted individual is named to oversee one’s medical care and carries the responsibility of making health care decisions if one becomes unable to do so.   

In order to ensure that one’s wishes are clear, a second type of directive or document is used, and this is called a living will.  A durable POA involves a legal document that allows someone of your choice to have the power to act in one’s place if mental capacitation takes place.   

A durable POA is permitted to take care of important matters such as paying one’s bills, overseeing investments, or directing one’s medical care if assistance is needed. 

T aking the time to make these documents is well worth the small effort that it takes to complete them and it is important to understand the differences between “medical” and “durable” and that one covers health care issues and the other covers finances.     

The Bottom Line

As one can easily see, it is necessary and important for a medical power of attorney to be in place in case one becomes unable to make health care decisions but still wants their desires to be honored.  Despite a medical POA being a legal document, it serves an extremely important purpose and not only assists in maintaining one’s wishes, but also makes the burden of situations such as these much less stressful for spouses, parents, or adult children.   

The stress of situations such as these is extremely immense to begin with and the reassurance of having medical measures for one’s loved one in place helps to ease the burden of making the appropriate and desired health care choices.

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