Establishing a medical power of attorney (POA) is one of the most important steps you can take when you’re putting together an estate plan.
However, you need to have a heart-to-heart conversation (or several) with your chosen POA, just to make sure that you are both on the same page about your preferences and care. Here are some key areas to discuss:
1. Your values and preferences
It’s impossible to anticipate every medical scenario and every decision your medical POA may have to make on your behalf – which is why they need to have a clear understanding of your values, deeply held beliefs and preferences.
Talk to your POA about your overall approach to medical care. Do you want aggressive treatments? Do you prefer a conservative approach? What does quality of life mean to you? At what point do you want your POA to help you keep fighting against death, and when do you think nature should take its course?
2. Specific treatments and interventions
Many advance directives address specific treatments and can help guide your POA’s decision-making processes. Just the same, you should have a very frank conversation with your POA about things like CPR, mechanical ventilation, dialysis and feeding tubes.
You also need to talk about pain management and palliative or hospice care, including the use of medications. You want to ensure that you and your POA fully agree about your approach in this area. It’s also wise to discuss organ donation since your POA will likely be asked to consent to such procedures if your condition turns terminal.
3. Family concerns and potential conflicts
Your POA won’t do you a lot of good if they’re going to cave to the demands of some of your more vocal family members. If you know in advance that your parents, siblings or adult children will try to circumvent your wishes, it’s important to give your POA some warning.
Make sure that they have the sort of resolve you need to see when it comes to making certain that your wishes are respected – even over some of your relatives’ objections.
Creating an effective estate plan means dealing with a lot of “what if” scenarios – and that’s often easier to do with professional guidance.