Appoint a Decision Maker

Who should be your designated health care decision maker?

In a document separate from your advance directive, name a particular person to be your health care decision maker. Name an alternate in case the first person named is unable to be your health care surrogate when the time comes.

• That document is called a Durable Power of Attorney for Medical Care. It will be your best protection against ending up spending weeks, months, or years in a vegetative state marginally being kept alive by the use of artificial life-sustaining measures.

• The document naming a health care agent is particularly important if you'd prefer a nonrelative to make your health care decisions for you. If you don't name a nonrelative, the hospital and the courts will name a relative if there's one available. People with AIDS frequently want nonrelatives to be their health care decision makers, but anyone else may want the same situation to apply. For example, a heterosexual couple (technically, not related) who live together but who are not married may wish to make each other their health care decision makers.