Health Care Power of Attorney

What is a Health Care Power of Attorney?

These important forms concern the appointment of an individual, called an agent, to make healthcare decisions for another person, called the principal.

The Health Care Power of Attorney or HCPOA is an important document that must be signed and witnessed under specific requirements set out by Pennsylvania law. A healthcare provider serving the principal cannot act as a witness.

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What You Need to Know

The HCPOA sets out what the agent can and cannot do as it comes to making decisions for the principal’s healthcare. Most importantly, it allows the principal to state his or her intentions for life-sustaining care, including tube-feeding or other artificial forms of nutrition or hydration. The HCPOA can also require the agent to consult with others to ascertain the principal’s wishes in the event of uncertainty about what the principal should want.

As with a living will, the HCPOA becomes operative only when an attending physician determines that a principal is incompetent AND a copy of the HCPOA is given to the physician.

The HCPOA is valid until its revoked by the principal, the documents lapses on its own terms, or it is revoked by a court or by a guardian appointed by a court.

Unless related to the principals, doctors or employees of a health care facility cannot be an agent making healthcare decisions for the principal.

Once appointed, an agent may make any decision for the principal that the principal could have made on their own, including, for example, admission to a facility, consent to an autopsy and to organ donations.

This is a massive responsibility for a person and someone creating a HCPOA must be extremely careful in choosing a person to act in their own interest and consulting with experienced counsel is absolutely required.

To arrange a consultation, please give us a call at (215) 345-9500 or send us a message. All consultations are free.

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Health Care Power of Attorney

What is a Health Care Power of Attorney?

What You Need to Know

As with a living will, the HCPOA becomes operative only when an attending physician determines that a principal is incompetent AND a copy of the HCPOA is given to the physician.

The HCPOA is valid until its revoked by the principal, the documents lapses on its own terms, or it is revoked by a court or by a guardian appointed by a court.

Unless related to the principals, doctors or employees of a health care facility cannot be an agent making healthcare decisions for the principal.

Once appointed, an agent may make any decision for the principal that the principal could have made on their own, including, for example, admission to a facility, consent to an autopsy and to organ donations.

Call Us Anytime – 24/7

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