Designation of Health Care Surrogate

A "Designation of Health Care Surrogate" names a surrogate who can make health care decisions for you if and when you are unable to make those decisions.  Your surrogate can only make those decisions when you are in a nursing home, hospital, or under hospice care.  Your health care surrogate would be able to:

• Have authority to act for you and to make all health care decisions for you during your incapacity.

• Consult expeditiously with appropriate health care providers to provide informed consent, and make only health care decisions for you which he or she believes you would have made under the circumstances if you were capable of making such decisions. If there is no indication of what you would have chosen, the surrogate may consider your best interest in deciding that proposed treatments are to be withheld or that treatments currently in effect are to be withdrawn.

• Provide written consent using an appropriate form whenever consent is required, including a physician's order not to resuscitate.

• Be provided access to your appropriate medical records.

• Apply for public benefits, such as Medicare and Medicaid, for you and have access to information regarding your income and assets and banking and financial records to the extent required to make application.

• The surrogate may authorize the release of information and medical records to appropriate persons to ensure the continuity of your health care and may authorize your admission, discharge, or transfer to or from a health care facility or other facility or program licensed under chapter 400.

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Disclaimer: The information provided on FloridaMedicaid.com is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues commonly encountered. Your access to and use of this website is subject to additional Terms and Conditions. © 2005 Defined Benefits Group, LLC. All rights reserved.  Defined Benefits Group, LLC does not offer legal referrals (as defined in State Bar of Florida Pertaining to Lawyer Referral Services).