Los Angeles Healthcare Power of Attorney Attorney
Designating an Agent to Make Medical Decisions on Your Behalf
A healthcare power of attorney names the person who will make medical decisions for you if illness or injury leaves you unable to communicate your own wishes. In California, this authority is typically granted as part of a broader Advance Health Care Directive, but the agent designation itself deserves its own careful thought. The person you choose may be asked to make decisions about surgery, medication, long-term care placement, or end-of-life treatment, often under emotional and time-sensitive circumstances.
At the Law Office of Mitchell A. Port, we help clients think through not just who to name, but how much guidance to leave that person so they can carry out your wishes with confidence rather than guesswork.
How This Differs From a Financial Power of Attorney
A financial power of attorney and a healthcare power of attorney serve entirely different purposes and should not be confused. Your financial agent manages money, property, and legal matters. Your healthcare agent, sometimes called a healthcare proxy or medical agent, has authority strictly over treatment decisions, choice of physicians and facilities, and access to your medical records under HIPAA. Many clients name the same person for both roles, but you are free to split the responsibilities between two different people if that better reflects each person's strengths.
When the Agent's Authority Takes Effect
Your healthcare agent's authority generally begins once your attending physician determines that you lack the capacity to make your own medical decisions, and it ends automatically if you regain capacity. Unlike a financial power of attorney, healthcare authority is almost always structured to activate only upon incapacity, since you retain the right to make your own medical decisions for as long as you are able to do so.
Selecting and Preparing Your Agent
We encourage clients to have a candid conversation with their chosen agent before signing the document. Your agent should understand your values around quality of life, aggressive treatment versus comfort care, and any religious or personal beliefs that should guide their decisions. We also prepare HIPAA authorizations so your agent, and any backup agents, can access your medical information immediately rather than fighting with a hospital's privacy office during a crisis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I name more than one healthcare agent?
You can name co-agents, but we generally recommend naming one primary agent and one or more alternates in order of priority. Requiring two people to agree in real time can create delay during a medical emergency.
What happens if I do not have a healthcare power of attorney?
Without one, California law provides a default priority list of family members who may be consulted, but doctors and hospitals may be reluctant to rely on informal family consensus, and disagreements among relatives can end up before a judge. A signed healthcare power of attorney avoids that uncertainty.
Call (310) 526-3433 to put a healthcare power of attorney in place with a Los Angeles estate planning lawyer at the Law Office of Mitchell A. Port.
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