How do I choose my healthcare agent?

In most cases, your healthcare agent can be anyone that the law in your country or state considers to be an adult, with these exceptions:

• Your healthcare agent can't be your treating doctor or his or her staff (to prevent potential conflicts of interest, some countries and states say no medical treatment providers can be healthcare agents).
• Your healthcare agent can't be the owner/operator or employees of the medical facility, nursing home, or hospice where you're being treated unless you're related by blood, marriage, or adoption.

Before you choose your healthcare agent, it's important to think about a couple of things:

• Can this person be at the hospital to assess the situation firsthand and talk with your doctors?
• Can this person handle the pressure of potentially very hard decisions during a time of great stress?

You should speak with the person you're considering to be your healthcare agent to make sure he or she is comfortable with the responsibility. You also need to talk about your advance medical directives and your thoughts about quality of life so that he or she will know how you'd like medical treatment decisions made on your behalf.