Frederick J. Kramer
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Elder Law
and Estate Planning
(516) 293-4747
DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY
HEALTH CARE PROXY
LIVING WILL
Durable Power of Attorney
The person or persons you designate to act for
you are called "agents" or "attorneys-in-fact". This document empowers your agent to make
financial, administrative and estate planning decisions on your behalf, if and
when it is necessary in the future.
The Power of Attorney should be one that is
DURABLE. The word durable simply means
that your designated agent continues to have authority to act even after
incapacity or incompetence.
Health Care Proxy
A New York State Health Care Proxy document
allows you to designate a trusted person, typically a family member, to make
all health care decisions in the event you were not able to make such decisions
yourself. In addition to the primary
agent you choose, a successor should be appointed if the primary agent was
deceased or otherwise unable or unavailable to act.
Without a Health Care Proxy document, your
family member does not have the legal right to speak for you regarding health
care decisions. The current available
Health Care Proxy forms allow you to specify your desires with regard to not
being kept alive by artificial life sustaining medical treatments.
Living Will
A Living Will is a document which is a written
expression of your wishes concerning prohibition or termination of life
sustaining medical treatment when there is no reasonable prospect
of recovery from:
a.) suffering from extreme physical or
mental disability
b.) terminally ill
c.) persistent and permanent vegetative
condition
d.) brain death.
In your Living Will you clearly express that
under the above circumstances you be allowed to die and that no medication,
artificial means, or any extraordinary life sustaining medical treatment be
used to prolong your life. In addition,
you would generally state that if such treatment were being provided, that it
be withdrawn.
The information
presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor
the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.
All website content ©
2005, Frederick J. Kramer, Esq.