Beware of Generic Patient Advocate Forms

June 22, 2009

Hospitals often give patients a patient advocate form to sign on being admitted. While it might seem easy to sign a generic patient advocate form, having a document that is specifically tailored to your needs is important.

A Designation of Patient Advocate, also known as a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare, allows you to appoint someone else (your patient advocate) to act as your agent for medical decisions. In general, a designation of patient advocate takes effect only when you require medical treatment and two doctors determines that you are unable to communicate your wishes concerning what that treatment should be. Appointing someone to serve as your patient advocate helps ensure that your medical treatment instructions will be carried out.  A comprehensive Designation of Patient Advocate also avoids the problems associated with Guardianship.

While a Designation of Patient Advocate serves to appoint an agent to speak for you, you can also use it to give the agent guidance about your medical wishes. Following are some issues that can be addressed in a Designation of Patient Advocate:

• If you are terminally ill, in a coma, or have brain damage with no hope of recovery, you can explain the kind of treatment you don't want. For example, do you want feeding tubes, resuscitation, dialysis, or blood transfusions?

• Whether or not you want to be kept alive by machines if you are in a persistent vegetative state.

• Under what circumstances you want pain medication to be administered.
• How to handle differences in opinion amongst family members regarding what treatment you should receive.

Whatever choices you make, you should take time to consider your health care wishes before drafting a Designation of Patient Advocate. For this reason, signing a generic hospital form is not a good idea, as such a form will not take your individual wishes into account. In addition, if you already have a Designation of Patient Advocate as a part of your estate plan, Michigan law provides the generic form will revoke your more personal patient advocate proxy.

Andrew Byers is an Elder Law Attorney in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  Preparing Designations of Patient Advocate documents as part of a comprehensive Estate and Longevity Plan is part of our elder law practice.