Page 29 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Summer 2020- Online Magazine

your pleasure, and may act only in your interest and not
in his or her own. The power of attorney ceases upon your
death.

MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY

Unless you become incapacitated or unable to give your
informed consent to treatment by medical professionals,
you always make your own medical decisions. Therefore,
the medical power of attorney names an agent to make
medical decisions for you if you cannot, but it does not
give your agent the authority to admit you to a facility or to
impose medical treatment on you against your will. Like
the financial power of attorney, the authority granted ceases
upon your death.
HIPAA RELEASE

If possible, you should always name at least one alternate
agent in your financial and medical powers of attorney,
and that brings up another issue. The agent named in your
medical power of attorney may have the right to speak with
your medical providers and access your medical records,
but no one else does – not your alternate agents, not your
immediate family. A HIPAA Release and Authorization goes
a long way to solving this problem. HIPAA stands for the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which
contains protections for patient privacy. The people named
in the document have no decision-making authority, but
each may obtain information from your medical providers
and access medical records.
DIRECTIVE

Finally, a directive to physicians and family instructs your
caregivers how to treat you if you become 1) incapacitated
and have a terminal condition, or 2) permanently and
completely incapacitated and require some form of life-
sustaining treatment, such as a feeding tube or mechanical
breathing assistance. Please understand that a Directive to
Physicians and Family or Surrogates is NOT a DNR or Do
Not Resuscitate order. Generally, a DNR prohibits health
care professionals from taking steps to restart your breathing
or your heart if either one should quit. On the other hand, a
directive provides guidelines to your caregivers when and if
either of the above, briefly described circumstances, arises.

Fear certainly motivates, but let it be the spur to act and
not the primary incentive; rather, focus on the security and
comfort that such planning inherently provides. Do not
leave your loved ones and caregivers foraging for both toilet
paper AND legal papers when a crisis arises. Do them and
yourself a favor, and get your legal planning done at the first
chance you get.

Amarillo Senior Link 29