Information provided courtesy of the Ohio Hospice and Palliative Care Organization; the Ohio State Medical Association; the Ohio Hospital Association; the Ohio Osteopathic Association; and the Ohio State Bar Association.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT...
Ohio's Health Care Power of Attorney
A Health Care Power of Attorney is a document that allows you to name a person to act on your behalf to make health care decisions for you if you become unable to make them for yourself. This person becomes an attorney-in-fact for you.
• A Health Care Power of Attorney is different from a financial power of attorney that you use to give someone authority over your financial matters.
• The person you appoint as your attorney-in-fact, by completing the Health Care Power of Attorney form, has the power to authorize and refuse medical treatment for you. This authority is recognized in all medical situations when you are unable to express your own wishes.
• Unlike a Living Will, it is not limited to situations in which you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious. For example, your physician or the hospital may consult with your attorney-in-fact should you be injured in a car accident and become temporarily unconscious.

There are five limitations on the authority of your attorney-in-fact:

1. An attorney-in-fact has limited authority to order that life-sustaining treatment be withdrawn from you. Your attorney-in-fact may order that life-sustaining treatment be refused or withdrawn only if you have a terminal condition or if you are in a permanently unconscious state. And even then, the attending physician and, if applicable, the consulting physician, must confirm that diagnosis, and your attending physician(s) must determine that you have no reasonable possibility of regaining decision-making ability.

2. Your attorney-in-fact does not have the authority to order the withdrawal of “comfort care.” Comfort care is any type of medical or nursing care that would provide you with comfort or relief from pain.

3. If you are pregnant, your attorney-in-fact cannot order the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment unless certain conditions are met. Life sustaining treatment cannot be withdrawn if doing so would terminate the pregnancy unless there is substantial risk to your life or two physicians determine that the fetus would not be born alive.

4. Your attorney-in-fact may order that nutrition and hydration be withdrawn only if you are in a terminal condition or permanently unconscious state and two physicians agree that nutrition and hydration will no longer provide comfort or alleviate pain. If you want to give your attorney-in-fact the authority to withhold nutrition and hydration if you were to become permanently unconscious, you must indicate this in the appropriate section of the Health Care Power of Attorney form. If you also have a Living Will, it should be consistent with your Health Care Power of Attorney regarding the withholding of nutrition and hydration. In other words, if you indicate in your Health Care Power of Attorney that it is permissible for your attorney-in-fact to order that nutrition and hydration be withheld, then you also should indicate in your Living Will that it is permissible for your physician to withhold nutrition and hydration.

5. If you previously have given consent for treatment (before becoming unable to communicate), your attorney-in-fact cannot withdraw your consent unless certain conditions are met. Either your physical condition must have changed and/or the treatment you approved is no longer of benefit or the treatment has not been proven effective.

If you have a Health Care Power of Attorney and a Living Will, health care workers must follow the wishes you state in your Living Will, once the Living Will becomes effective. In other words, your Living Will takes precedence over your Health Care Power of Attorney.

Quick Links to Planning Ahead:
Entire Booklet (.pdf)
Ohio's Living Will
Health Care Power of Attorney
Preparing your Funeral Service
Preparing and Updating your Will
Financial Planning and Powers of Attorney

Disclaimer:
This booklet is purely informational. Episcopal Retirement Homes is not engaged in offering legal or medical advise. We urge you to consult your own financial planner, attorney and physician for those issues specific to your situation.

The consequences of a charitable gift depend in significant part on each donor's particular circumstance. This general discussion of ways to give does not address every issue, nor does it take into consideration the type of assets you have, your individual tax situation or your estate and gift tax planning objectives. You are most strongly urged to consult your tax and estate planning advisors.