Healthcare Power of Attorney in Ashland City

Choose for availability as well as trust

Start by identifying the person you would want involved if you could not communicate or make a healthcare decision. Then consider practical availability: could this person be reached when needed, understand your preferences, and communicate with the people involved in your care?

Compare naming one agent with naming an alternate. A single choice may make your preference clear, while an alternate can provide another option if your first choice is unable to act. Discuss the responsibility with each person before relying on them, and consider whether your choices are likely to work well together.

Separate decision authority from information access

A healthcare power of attorney concerns who may make healthcare decisions on your behalf under the document and applicable law. A HIPAA authorization concerns sharing health information. Giving someone permission to receive information does not, by itself, appoint that person to make healthcare decisions.

Under federal HIPAA guidance, state-law authority to make healthcare decisions can make someone your personal representative. That does not mean every healthcare agent always needs a separate HIPAA authorization. Review what you want each person to be able to do rather than treating the documents as interchangeable.

Put preferences and choices in one preparation list

Before discussing or preparing documents, write down your proposed agent and alternate, how to contact them, and the healthcare preferences you want communicated. Note any existing advance directive, living will, or information-sharing authorization so the documents can be considered together rather than assuming one replaces another.

Tennessee’s Advance Directive for Health Care form addresses an agent, an alternate, and healthcare preferences, and includes instructions about signing and sharing copies. Use the form’s own instructions for those steps; this page does not prescribe how to execute it.

• People you are considering and whether each knows about the role
• Your stated preferences and questions you want addressed
• Existing healthcare documents, where copies are kept, and who has received them

Questions to resolve before you proceed

Ask whether your preferred person is willing and realistically reachable, what should happen if that person cannot serve, and how you want your preferences recorded. Ask how a healthcare decision-making document relates to any existing directive or information-sharing authorization, and who should receive copies.

Dale Law Group, PLLC offers healthcare power of attorney planning as part of its estate-planning services. The firm’s office is in Murfreesboro and serves Tennessee, including Ashland City. Contact the firm to discuss your choices and documents.