Appointing Your Health Care Agent - New York State's Proxy Law
A law called the New York Health Care Proxy Law allows you to appoint someone you trust - for example, a family member or close friend - to decide about treatment if you lose the ability to decide for yourself. You can do this by using a Health Care Proxy like the one available on our website, to appoint your "health care agent".
This law gives you the power to made sure that health care professionals follow your wishes. Your agent can also decide how your wishes apply as your medical condition changes. Hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers must follow your agent's decisions as if they were your own.
You can give the person you select, your
health care agent, as little or as much authority as you want. You can
allow your agent to decide about all health care or only certain
treatments. You may also give your agent instructions that he or she has
to follow.
Download our Health Care Proxy Form and instructions here: (requires Adobe
Acrobat Reader)
To
obtain a Health Care Proxy
Form Click Here
For Instructions
for completing your Health Care Proxy Click Here
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I appoint a health care agent?
What decisions can my health care agent make?
When would my health care agent begin making decisions for me?
Why should I choose a health care agent?
Why should I choose a
health care agent?
If you become too sick to make health care
decisions, someone else must decide for you. Health care professionals
often look to family members for guidance. But family members are not
allowed to decide to stop treatment, even when they believe that is what you
would choose or what is best for you under the circumstances. Appointing
an agent lets you control your medical treatment by:
 |
allowing your agent to stop treatment when he or she decides that is what you would want or what is best for you under the circumstances. |
|
choosing one family member to decide about treatment because you think that person would make the best decisions or because you want to avoid conflict or confusion about who should decide; and |
|
choosing someone outside your family to decide about treatment because no one in your family is available or because you prefer that someone other than a family member decide about your health care. |
How can I appoint a
health care agent?
All competent adults can appoint a health care
agent by signing a form called a Health Care Proxy. You don't need a
lawyer, just two adult witnesses. Download the form available on our
website by clicking
here.
When would my health
care agent begin to make treatment decisions for me?
Your health care agent would begin to make
treatment decisions after doctors decide that you are not able to make treatment
decisions. As long as you are able to make treatment decisions for
yourself, you will have the right to do so.
What decisions can
my health care agent make?
Unless you limit your health care agent's
authority, your agent will be able to make any treatment decision that you could
have made if you were able to decide for yourself. Your agent can agree
that you should receive treatment, choose among different treatments and decide
that treatments should not be provided, in accord with your wishes and
interests. If your health care agent is not aware of your wishes about
artificial nutrition and hydration (nourishment and water provided by feeding
tubes), he or she will not be able to make decisions about these measures.
Artificial nutrition and hydration are used in many circumstances, and are often
used to continue the life of patients who are in a permanent coma.
