Your estate plan can do more than help you distribute assets; you can plan for incapacitation. While you may not want to be unable to make medical decisions at any point in your life, anything can happen. Accordingly, you need to choose someone who will make medical decisions on your behalf sooner.
But who should you pick?
Someone you trust
Your health care agent should be someone you trust – this can be a family member or friend. You need to trust that the party you choose will follow all the instructions in your living will and make other decisions in your best interest. Thus, pick someone who knows you well and vice versa.
Someone who can stay calm in a crisis
Your health care may need to make several crucial decisions within short periods when the time to assume their duties comes. For this reason, you want to pick someone who can stay calm in a crisis, as this will allow them to assess every detail of a matter and make the best decision without feeling pressured.
Someone confident
Besides being calm, your health care agent should be confident in making decisions that family members and health care providers can disagree with. Even though they may need the help of others, a health care agent should stand firm on your behalf.
Another perk of choosing a confident agent is that they will always ask questions. They will ensure they have all the needed information about procedures or medications from doctors before anything happens.
It’s vital to be adequately informed when filling out your health care proxy form. Legal guidance can make your work more manageable.