Try: If the Care recipient (cr) becomes incapacitated he or she cannot make medical decisions even though there are several options to plan with many individuals fail to make an advance directive or appoint a surrogate decision maker in the event of incapacity due to this most states have passed surrogate decision maker laws these laws identify who is appointed as a surrogate if the cr is incapacitated the law creates a list of people and an order of priority for appointed decision makers generally the spouse is first on the list followed by children after these groups laws vary widely grandchildren siblings parents extended family and even close friends can be on the list additionally if there are multiple people at a level a vote may have to be taken for example if the cr has no spouse and three children they may have to vote on the medical treatment it truly depends on the state law the hospital or healthcare facility should be aware of the law and knowledgeable of the process overall to avoid the uncertainty of the process have the cr consult an attorney to prepare his end of life planning information references

Materials: n/a

Categories: Cognitive Intellectual, Legal, Medical Physical

Information: n/a

References: n/a

Keywords: Capacity legal healthcare decisions

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed