What Is a Medical Power of Attorney?
A medical power of attorney (MPOA) or durable power of attorney for healthcare is a legal document that lets you choose a trusted agent to make medical decisions for you. You name your agent (or “attorney-in-fact“) and specify what powers you want them to have. When the MPOA form meets the signing requirements in your state, it becomes legally binding and enforceable.
This document only goes into effect when a doctor determines that you cannot decide your healthcare for yourself. This way, you keep control over your medical decisions while competent.
Legal Templates offers an MPOA form so you can dictate who will be in charge of your treatment. Our template makes it clear that your agent only assumes authority when you’re incapacitated.
When Is an MPOA Needed?
Regardless of their current health, any adult can benefit from having a medical power of attorney. An MPOA ensures you have someone to make decisions to aid your recovery or assist with end-of-life decisions if you become incapacitated. It’s useful when you want to:
- Address health concerns: Appoint someone to manage your care following a serious diagnosis.
- Plan for procedures: Make sure someone can act if unexpected issues arise during medical treatment.
- Reduce family stress: Give loved ones clarity on who you want to handle your healthcare decisions.
Who Makes Medical Decisions Without a Power of Attorney?
If an individual becomes incapacitated and lacks an MPOA, state law dictates who becomes responsible for their medical decisions. In many states, spouses or domestic partners have the first right to this authority.
If they’re unavailable or unwilling, the responsibility typically goes to adult children, parents, or siblings. If no family members are available, the court can appoint a guardian to fulfill the role.
Medical POA vs. Living Will vs. Advance Directive
A medical power of attorney lets you appoint a healthcare agent to make decisions for you when you’re incapacitated, while a living will lets you specify your wishes for end-of-life medical care, including life support, CPR, dialysis, surgical procedures, and palliative care.
Often, individuals write a living will and a medical power of attorney to cover all their bases for healthcare. These two end-of-life documents are examples of advance directives.
With both documents in place, a living will will take priority, as it dictates an individual’s specific healthcare wishes. However, a medical power of attorney can be a good supplementary document if a patient needs care decisions made that they didn’t specify in their living will or situations that the living will does not specify on.
How to Get a Medical Power of Attorney
Writing a medical power of attorney form lets you clearly state who has authority over your health-related matters if you become incapacitated. Plus, it lets you limit the scope of authority to what you’re comfortable granting. Follow these steps to write a legally sound MPOA.
Step 1 – Add Principal’s Information
Name yourself as the principal, who is the person who will benefit from the decisions made via the medical power of attorney. List your name, address, contact information, and date of birth. When you use our template, you can enter all your information in one place, and we’ll fill it in to complete the document.
Step 2 – Name Your Agent
Specify who your agent will be and provide their address and contact information, including their phone number and email address. Ensure you talk to them to confirm their willingness to act as your agent. If they’re not comfortable, choose someone else. Your agent should be able to:
- Follow your preferences when possible
- Adhere to state laws
- Avoid conflicts of interest
- Observe ethical standards
You can also name alternate agents in case your primary one becomes unwilling or unable to act on your behalf. Use our template to designate up to two alternate agents after your primary one.
Step 3 – List Your Agent’s Powers
While agents can have broad authority under an MPOA, their powers are not without limits. Your agent’s authority lies in your hands, so you can decide what they can and cannot do. Depending on your preferences, you can allow your medical POA agent to:
- Approve or decline medical care, treatments, and medications
- Access your medical records
- Approve admission to or discharge from health care facilities
- Authorize participation in medical research
- Arrange or contract health care services or facilities
- Manage or dismiss care personnel involved in your treatment
- Make decisions about organ or tissue donation
Use our template to customize your attorney-in-fact’s powers, ensuring they match your health care preferences. You can also write out special instructions to be more specific about your agent’s authority and limitations.
Step 4 – Write the Effective Date
A medical power of attorney typically takes effect when you become incapacitated. In some cases, incapacitated means when your agent and physician determine that you can’t make decisions for yourself. However, some states have different definitions of incapacity.
Does a Durable Power of Attorney Cover Medical Decisions?
A durable power of attorney for healthcare covers medical decisions. It remains effective through incapacity, allowing your agent to decide on treatments and care plans.
Some durable powers of attorney don’t cover medical decisions. Instead, they grant legal and financial decision-making rights when the principal is unable to act for themselves.
Step 5 – Sign & Seek Notary Acknowledgment
Sign your name to confirm your selections and preferences. A medical power of attorney may need to be notarized, depending on where you live. Even if a notary public doesn’t need to witness your signature, you may need one or more witnesses to observe it. Follow your state’s requirements to ensure compliance. Otherwise, your document won’t be enforceable.
Step 6 – Revise as Needed
If your health condition, personal circumstances, or relationship with your agent changes, you may need to update your MPOA. The easiest way to change it is to revoke the existing form and write a new one. You can revoke an existing medical power of attorney with Legal Templates’s revocation of power of attorney form. Follow your state’s requirements for witnesses or notarization to validate the revocation.
Provide copies of the revocation form to your former agent, health care providers, and anyone else with the original power of attorney for medical decisions. Then, you can appoint a new agent or update your preferences with a new medical power of attorney form.
