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y John L. Belford
By executing a Health Care
Proxy you appoint an agent to
make health care decisions for
you if you become unable to
make those decisions for yourself.
As a general rule a physician
should not perform an invasive
procedure upon his or her patient
without the patient’s informed
consent.
If you have not executed a
Health Care Proxy and if you
become unable to make health
care decisions for yourself, your
physician will be faced with a difficult
decision. He or she knows
the procedure or procedures that
should be performed, but he or
she does not have your consent.
Often the physician can consult
with family members and present
the question to a hospital committee
for advice, but neither are
legally effective and the advice
– 78 –
L E G A L - E A S E
The Importance of a Health Care Proxy
from the committee cannot be
obtained quickly.
Accordingly, if a physician
proceeds without the patient’s
consent without the benefit of a
Health Care Proxy he or she risks
a lawsuit for treating a patient
without the patient’s consent.
You avoid this problem if you
execute a Health Care Proxy. If
you cannot make health care
decisions for yourself, the person
you appoint as your health care
agent on the Health Care Proxy
can make health care decisions
for you and the physician can
proceed with the appropriate procedures
as if you had consented
to said procedures yourself.
The form is available on-line
and at stationery stores, hospitals
and attorneys’ offices. The Health
Care Proxy form is simple to complete
and needs two (2) witnesses.
The Health Care Proxy does
not need to be
signed before a
notary public.
It would be
prudent to execute
the Health
Care Proxy
with the assistance
of persons
familiar
with the form
such as an attorney, a notary public,
a physician or other health
care provider.
Editor’s Note:
John L. Belford, Jr., Esq., has been practicing
law for 39 years, with 32 of them
here in St. James at 217 Lake Avenue at
the corner of Woodlawn and Lake
Avenues. A graduate of Columbia Law
School, John specializes in real estate,
wills & estate planning and elder law.
For additional information, call him at
862-8600.
OUR TOWN • DECEMBER 2008
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