Healthcare Surrogate

Estate Planning Attorney
St. Petersburg

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Healthcare Surrogate Attorney in St. Petersburg

A Healthcare Surrogate Form can be most easily described as a Power of Attorney for healthcare situations. It allows you to appoint someone to be your health care agent, or “surrogate” in the event you cannot act for yourself. The document is an important part of your estate planning. There are a large number of rights and responsibilities surrounding the realm of medical and healthcare. Just about everyone will require some medical treatment or procedure at some point in time. Doctors and hospitals require a great deal of paperwork to be completed and signed by a patient or their guardian before they will perform all but emergency procedures deemed to keep you alive. They require that you give “informed consent” to most surgical and diagnostic procedures.

Sometimes decisions must be made as to a type or course of medical care. If you are unable to give your informed consent, or make medical decisions due to a temporary or permanent mental disability, the person you have appointed as your Healthcare Surrogate can make those decisions for you. This is extremely beneficial for several reasons, not the least of which is avoiding unnecessary, costly, or potentially life-threatening delays in getting the care you need. And, as in a Durable Power of Attorney, the Healthcare Surrogate and Living Will, you can appoint an alternate person to be your surrogate in the event your first choice is unwilling or unable to act for you.

Can Assist you with Medical Decisions

The Healthcare Surrogate Form will allow your surrogate to make most medical decisions, including those involving transfer to and from a healthcare facility, and give your surrogate the right to deal with your protected health information under the HIPAA law. The Healthcare Surrogate may not typically make anatomical gifts however, so you must take it upon yourself to complete an Anatomical Gifts Declaration if donation of any of your bodily organs is your ultimate desire.

A Healthcare Surrogate Form is an essential part of any estate plan. You should hire an experienced estate planning lawyer to assist you in properly completing this important document. David P. Folkenflik, Esq., has been an estate planning and Healthcare Surrogate lawyer in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County for over two decades. We always offer a free ½ hour initial in office estate planning consultation. Our goal at David P. Folkenflik, P.A. is to provide you with friendly, prompt, and competent legal services at an affordable cost.
The information contained herein does not constitute legal advice as that can only be given by a direct consultation with the attorney after having reviewed your entire matter and relevant documentation. Actual terms and conditions of representation will be contained in the Representation Agreement.
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