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Mar. 25th, 2020 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynFor those of y'all who live in Massachusetts and haven't already done so, and who have the ability to be in the room with three other adults- I realize this is an increasingly small percentage of my reading population- I suggest, rather strongly, that you get yourself a copy of the Massachusetts Health Care Proxy form, name someone you trust as your health care proxy, and have it signed and witnessed.
The Health Care Proxy form is a legally binding document that allows you to name someone else to make health care decisions for you in the event that you are incapacitated or otherwise unable to make or communicate your own health care decisions. The goal is to make sure that someone who knows what you want, and who you trust to relay that information accurately and correctly, is the one talking to doctors, rather than someone who has their own Ideas about What Is Best For You which blatantly contradict whatever it is you actually want done.
http://www.massmed.org/Patient-Care/Health-Topics/Health-Care-Proxies-and-End-of-Life-Care/Health-Care-Proxy-Information-and-Forms/
The one issue with this right at the moment is that you have to sign the form and have your proposed agent sign the form in the presence of two witnesses, both of whom are adults and neither of whom are the agent. I realize this might be something of an issue right now. But if you have the opportunity to do so, and if you have a person you can discuss this kind of thing with and whom you trust to do what you think is the right thing by you in the event of medical disaster, give it a shot. 'In the presence of' just means 'where the witnesses can see you signing the form and verify that you aren't being coerced into it', not 'everybody is standing around the same 16-inch card table breathing each other's exhalations'.
The Health Care Proxy form is a legally binding document that allows you to name someone else to make health care decisions for you in the event that you are incapacitated or otherwise unable to make or communicate your own health care decisions. The goal is to make sure that someone who knows what you want, and who you trust to relay that information accurately and correctly, is the one talking to doctors, rather than someone who has their own Ideas about What Is Best For You which blatantly contradict whatever it is you actually want done.
http://www.massmed.org/Patient-Care/Health-Topics/Health-Care-Proxies-and-End-of-Life-Care/Health-Care-Proxy-Information-and-Forms/
The one issue with this right at the moment is that you have to sign the form and have your proposed agent sign the form in the presence of two witnesses, both of whom are adults and neither of whom are the agent. I realize this might be something of an issue right now. But if you have the opportunity to do so, and if you have a person you can discuss this kind of thing with and whom you trust to do what you think is the right thing by you in the event of medical disaster, give it a shot. 'In the presence of' just means 'where the witnesses can see you signing the form and verify that you aren't being coerced into it', not 'everybody is standing around the same 16-inch card table breathing each other's exhalations'.
