Healthcare Surrogate Lawyer

Although estate planning attorneys in Florida used to handle primarily wills and trusts that deal with property after death, modern estate plans now also include many provisions to protect people during their lifetime. This includes documents to ensure you receive the right medical care.

Designation of a healthcare surrogate is one of those documents. It protects you if you’re ever in a situation where you can’t make decisions or communicate with doctors because you’re incapacitated.

The Law Office of Cameron H.P. White can prepare this essential document for you and ensure that you understand how it operates and how to change it if necessary. We want you to be prepared for whatever the future may bring. We can coordinate this document with any existing documents you have or help you build a comprehensive plan to protect your health needs as well as financial matters.

Understanding Advance Directives and Healthcare Surrogates

Health care surrogates and related terms used in Florida law can be confusing because other states use different terms to mean the same thing. A health care surrogate in Florida is a person authorized to make medical decisions for you are unable to communicate or make your own decisions due to an illness, injury, or other condition. The document you use to name a health care surrogate is referred to by lawyers as a health care surrogate designation, and it is a type of advance directive.

An advance directive is just a legal term for documents that spell out your preferences for medical treatment in advance. Florida law recognizes two other types of advance directives for health care – a living will, and an anatomical donation. It is helpful to know that in Florida, a health care proxy is not the same thing as a health care surrogate (although these terms do mean the same thing in other states.)

How a Healthcare Surrogate Designation Works in Florida

In your health care surrogate document, you appoint someone to serve as your agent to make medical decisions for you if you are officially declared incapacitated. You can also include language to allow your agent to receive private health care information even if you are not incapacitated. Unless you state otherwise, your designation enables your agent to make decisions about mental health treatment as well as treatment of physical issues.

You can change or revoke your choice of agent or the entire surrogacy designation at any time, as long as you are still considered legally competent. It is a good idea to include an alternate surrogate in case your original choice is not able to serve for some reason. If your surrogates cannot serve or you don’t designate a surrogate, your family would need to get the court to appoint a health care proxy to make decisions, and this can be a complex process.

Protect Yourself with a Health Care Surrogate Designation

Having a healthcare surrogate designation prepared can save critical time in an emergency and prevent disagreements among family members if you are in a situation where you cannot explain your preferences for care. When you add a living will to your health care surrogate designation, you provide instructions that can guide your surrogate and reinforce their authority.

At the Law Office of Cameron H.P. White, P.A., we take the time to explain what all of these documents do so you can choose the provisions that will ensure your wishes are carried out in the future. We help you maintain control even in difficult situations.

We invite you to schedule a consultation to learn more about how we can help meet your health care and other planning needs for the future.