Healthcare Surrogate
Choose who you trust to make important healthcare decisions.
A Designation of Health Care Surrogate allows you to select a trusted person to assist with healthcare matters and make medical decisions on your behalf when authorized under the document. Depending upon the authority granted, your surrogate may communicate with physicians and healthcare providers, access medical information, provide or withhold consent to treatment, and make other healthcare decisions consistent with your wishes. Florida law also permits you to authorize your surrogate to receive health information or make healthcare decisions immediately. Even when immediate authority is granted, your own healthcare decisions control while you are capable of making them.
What Can a Health Care Surrogate Do?
Depending upon the terms of your designation, a Health Care Surrogate may be authorized to:
- Communicate with physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers;
- Access medical records and other protected health information;
- Consent to, refuse, or withdraw consent to medical treatment;
- Assist with decisions concerning healthcare providers and treatment options;
- Apply for certain benefits relating to the cost of healthcare; and
- Carry out your healthcare instructions and expressed wishes.
You may also designate an alternate surrogate to serve if your first choice is unable or unwilling to act.
Choosing the Right Health Care Surrogate
Your surrogate should be someone you trust to understand your wishes, communicate effectively with medical professionals, and make difficult decisions when necessary.
Our office prepares Health Care Surrogate designations as part of a coordinated estate plan and can help you determine the appropriate authority to grant, select alternate decision-makers, and coordinate the designation with your Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will, and other advance directives.
Contact our office to schedule a consultation regarding your estate plan and healthcare directives.