Healthcare Power of Attorney in Colonial Heights

Compare people by availability and judgment

Start with the person you would trust to make healthcare decisions in keeping with your wishes. Then consider whether that person could be reached when needed and would be comfortable acting in that role. A person’s relationship to you alone does not answer those practical questions.

Name an alternate to address the possibility that your first choice is unavailable or unable to serve. Compare the candidates by asking whether each understands your priorities, can communicate with the people involved in your care, and is willing to take on the responsibility.

Separate authority from information access

A healthcare power of attorney identifies an agent and describes healthcare decision-making authority. A HIPAA authorization addresses disclosure of health information. An authorization by itself does not appoint someone to make healthcare decisions.

Depending on the authority established under state law, a healthcare agent may be treated as a personal representative for HIPAA purposes. Do not assume every agent always needs a separate authorization—or that an authorization alone supplies decision-making authority. Review existing documents together so the roles and instructions are clear.

Prepare a concise decision guide

Before drafting or updating documents, make a one-page planning note for your discussion. List your proposed agent and alternate, how to reach them, and the healthcare preferences or concerns you want reflected in your instructions. Note any existing directive, living will, healthcare power of attorney, or information-sharing authorization and where copies can be found.

Use the note to identify gaps rather than to replace the documents. Tennessee’s Advance Directive for Health Care form addresses both an agent or alternate and healthcare preferences, and includes instructions about signing and sharing copies. Ask for guidance on completing the appropriate documents rather than relying on a generic signature recipe.

• Who is my first choice, and who is my alternate?
• What preferences or concerns should the documents communicate?
• Who has copies now, and who should receive them?

Coordinate the documents and next steps

Bring your planning note and any existing healthcare documents to a conversation with Dale Law Group, PLLC. Useful questions include: Does my current document clearly identify an agent and alternate? Do my stated preferences fit with the authority I intend to grant? Would a separate information-sharing authorization address a gap, or is my existing authority relevant to that question?

The firm offers healthcare power of attorney planning, advance healthcare directives and living wills, and HIPAA authorizations. These can be considered together without treating a financial power of attorney, trustee, or other decision-maker as interchangeable with a healthcare agent. Dale Law Group, PLLC is based in Murfreesboro and serves Tennessee; Colonial Heights is an unincorporated community in Sullivan County, not a separate city government.