A Designation of Health Care Surrogate is one type of Florida advance health care directive which allows you to appoint a surrogate to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are temporarily or permanently unable to make those decisions for yourself. The surrogate should be someone that you trust and who understands your wishes and can be any adult that you choose. This would be a good opportunity to have a discussion with your designated surrogate to make sure you are both on the same page about your wishes.
The Designation of Health Care Surrogate becomes effective when your doctors conclude that you are no longer able to make decisions on your own behalf. You can also elect to have the Designation of Health Care Surrogate to become effective immediately if you make that election is the designation. Unless specifically limited in the designation, your surrogate will be able to make almost every medical decision that you could make on your own behalf while competent to do so. The surrogate would be in a position to authorize, refuse, or discontinue treatment. Upon regaining capacity, you would resume the role of decision maker.
A Designation of Health Care Surrogate is another important piece of your estate plan and we are here to help you design an estate plan that best fits your desires and the needs of your family. Please contact us to today to discuss your estate planning goals and needs.
Daniel M. Genet, P.A.
Contact us at:
813.872.8787
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