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In the realm of health care, having a plan in place for unexpected situations can provide peace of mind. The Florida Health Care Surrogate form serves as a crucial document that allows individuals to designate someone they trust to make medical decisions on their behalf when they are unable to do so. This form outlines not only the primary health care surrogate but also provides an option for an alternate surrogate, ensuring that there is always someone ready to step in. It grants the surrogate the authority to access health information, make informed consent decisions, and even apply for benefits to cover health care costs. Importantly, it emphasizes that the individual’s wishes are paramount while they retain decision-making capacity, requiring clear communication from health care providers about treatment plans. Additionally, the form allows for specific instructions and restrictions, enabling individuals to tailor their health care preferences. Understanding how this form works is essential for anyone looking to navigate their health care choices effectively, especially in times of crisis.

Documents used along the form

The Florida Health Care Surrogate form is a vital document that allows individuals to designate someone to make health care decisions on their behalf if they become unable to do so. In addition to this form, there are several other important documents that can complement or enhance one's health care planning. Understanding these documents can help ensure that your health care preferences are honored and respected.

  • Durable Power of Attorney: This document allows you to appoint someone to manage your financial and legal affairs if you become incapacitated. Unlike a health care surrogate, which focuses solely on medical decisions, a durable power of attorney covers a broader range of matters.
  • Living Will: A living will outlines your wishes regarding end-of-life medical treatment. It specifies the types of medical interventions you do or do not want if you are terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state.
  • Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order: This is a medical order that instructs health care providers not to perform CPR if your heart stops beating or if you stop breathing. It is typically used in emergency situations and should be discussed with your health care surrogate and medical team.
  • Anatomical Gift Declaration: This document allows you to specify your wishes regarding organ and tissue donation after your death. It can be included in your health care surrogate designation or created as a separate document.
  • HIPAA Authorization: This form allows you to grant permission for specific individuals to access your health information. It is essential for ensuring that your health care surrogate can receive the necessary information to make informed decisions on your behalf.
  • Advance Directive: This umbrella term encompasses both living wills and health care surrogate designations. It serves as a comprehensive guide for your health care preferences and the individuals you trust to make decisions for you.
  • Emergency Contact List: While not a formal legal document, maintaining a list of emergency contacts can be beneficial. This list should include family members, friends, and health care providers who can be reached in urgent situations.
  • Patient Advocate Designation: Similar to a health care surrogate, this document allows you to appoint someone to advocate for your health care preferences, especially in complex medical situations or disputes with providers.
  • Health Care Proxy: This document is essentially synonymous with a health care surrogate designation. It empowers a chosen individual to make health care decisions for you when you are unable to do so.

Each of these documents serves a unique purpose in the broader context of health care planning. By understanding and utilizing them effectively, individuals can ensure their preferences are honored, providing peace of mind for themselves and their loved ones. Proper planning today can alleviate potential stress and confusion in the future.

Similar forms

The Florida Health Care Surrogate form shares similarities with the Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA). Both documents allow individuals to designate someone to make decisions on their behalf. In the case of a DPOA, the appointed agent can manage financial matters, while the Health Care Surrogate specifically focuses on health care decisions. This distinction is crucial, as it ensures that the designated person understands the specific realm of authority they are granted, whether it be health-related or financial. Both documents can be revoked or amended as long as the individual retains decision-making capacity.

Another document that resembles the Florida Health Care Surrogate form is the Living Will. A Living Will outlines an individual's wishes regarding medical treatment in situations where they cannot communicate those wishes themselves. While the Health Care Surrogate allows someone to make decisions on behalf of the individual, the Living Will provides specific instructions about what types of medical interventions the individual does or does not want. Both documents work together to ensure that a person’s health care preferences are respected when they are unable to voice them.

The Advance Directive is also similar to the Florida Health Care Surrogate form. An Advance Directive encompasses both the Health Care Surrogate and Living Will, serving as a broader category for documents that express an individual's health care preferences. It allows individuals to outline their desires regarding medical treatment and appoint someone to make decisions on their behalf. This comprehensive approach ensures that all aspects of a person's health care wishes are documented and can be followed when necessary.

In addition, the Medical Power of Attorney (MPOA) shares common ground with the Florida Health Care Surrogate form. Like the Health Care Surrogate, the MPOA designates an individual to make health care decisions for someone else. The key difference lies in the terminology and specific legal frameworks of different states. Both documents empower a trusted person to act in the best interests of the individual when they are unable to do so themselves, emphasizing the importance of having someone who understands the individual’s values and preferences.

The Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order is another document that relates closely to the Health Care Surrogate form. A DNR specifies that an individual does not wish to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the event of a cardiac arrest. While the Health Care Surrogate can make decisions about a range of health care options, including end-of-life care, a DNR focuses specifically on resuscitation efforts. Both documents are essential in ensuring that a person's wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment are honored.

Lastly, the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form is similar in purpose to the Florida Health Care Surrogate form. The POLST is a medical order that translates an individual's preferences for treatment into actionable medical orders for health care providers. Like the Health Care Surrogate, it aims to ensure that a person's health care wishes are respected, particularly in emergency situations. Both documents emphasize the importance of clear communication between patients, their surrogates, and health care providers to ensure that the individual’s wishes are followed during critical moments.

Obtain Answers on Florida Health Care Surrogate

  1. What is a Florida Health Care Surrogate form?

    The Florida Health Care Surrogate form is a legal document that allows individuals to designate someone they trust to make health care decisions on their behalf if they become unable to do so. This form is essential for ensuring that your medical preferences are honored when you cannot communicate them yourself.

  2. Who can be designated as a health care surrogate?

    You can choose any competent adult as your health care surrogate. This person should be someone you trust to make medical decisions that align with your values and preferences. It is advisable to discuss your wishes with them beforehand to ensure they are willing and able to take on this responsibility.

  3. What authority does a health care surrogate have?

    Your designated health care surrogate has the authority to make a wide range of health care decisions. This includes consenting to or refusing medical treatments, accessing your health information, and even making decisions about life-prolonging procedures. They can also apply for benefits to help cover health care costs on your behalf.

  4. Can I revoke or change my health care surrogate designation?

    Yes, you have the right to revoke or amend your health care surrogate designation at any time while you still have decision-making capacity. You can do this by signing a new document, verbally expressing your intent, or physically destroying the existing form. It is important to ensure that your wishes are clearly communicated to avoid any confusion.

  5. When does the authority of my health care surrogate become effective?

    Your health care surrogate's authority typically becomes effective only when your primary physician determines that you are unable to make your own health care decisions. However, you have the option to make this authority effective immediately by initialing the appropriate box on the form.

  6. What happens if I regain decision-making capacity?

    If you regain the ability to make your own health care decisions, your wishes will take precedence over any decisions made by your health care surrogate. This means that you can override any previous instructions given to your surrogate, ensuring that your preferences are always respected.

Document Preview

765.203 – Suggested form of designation – a written designation of a Health Care Surrogate executed pursuant to this chapter may, but need not be, in the following form.

DESIGNATION OF HEALTH CARE SURROGATE

I, _____________________________________________, designate as my health care surrogate under

§ 765.202, Florida statutes:

Name: ________________________________________Phone:_____________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________________________

If my health care surrogate is not willing, able, or reasonably available to perform his or her duties, I designate as my alternate health care surrogate:

Name: ________________________________________Phone:_____________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HEALTH CARE

I authorize my health care surrogate to: (Initials required in the blank spaces below.)

_______ Receive any of my health information, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium, that:

1.Is created or received by a health care provider, health care facility, health plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school or university, or health care clearinghouse; and

2.Relates to my past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition; the provision

of health care to me; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to me.

I further authorize my health care surrogate to: (Initials required in the blank space below.)

_______ Make all health care decisions for me, which means he or she has the authority to:

1.Provide informed consent, refusal of consent, or withdrawal of consent to any and all of my health care, including life-prolonging procedures.

2.Apply on my behalf for private, public, government, or veteran’s benefits to defray the cost of health care.

3.Access my health information reasonably necessary for the health care surrogate to make decisions involving my health care and to apply for benefits for me.

4.Decide to make an anatomical gift pursuant to part V of chapter 765, Florida Statutes.

_______ Specific instructions and restrictions: (Initials required in the blank space.)

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

While I have decisionmaking capacity, my wishes are controlling and my physicians and health care providers must clearly communicate to me the treatment plan or any change to the treatment plan prior to its implementation.

To the extent that I am capable of understanding, my health care surrogate shall keep me reasonably informed of all decisions that he or she has made on my behalf and matters concerning me.

THIS HEALTH CARE SURROGATE DESIGNATION IS NOT AFFECTED BY MY SUBSEQUENT INCAPACITY EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN CHAPTER 765, FLORIDA STATUTES.

PURSUANT TO SECTION 765.104, FLORIDA STATUTES, I UNDERSTAND THAT I MAY, AT ANY TIME WHILE I RETAIN MY CAPACITY, REVOKE OR AMEND THIS DESIGNATION BY:

1.SIGNING A WRITTEN AND DATED INSTRUMENT WHICH EXPRESSES MY INTENT TO AMEND OR REVOKE THIS DESIGNATION;

2.PHYSICALLY DESTROYING THIS DESIGNATION THROUGH MY OWN ACTION OR BY THAT OF ANOTHER PERSON IN MY PRESENCE AND UNDER MY DIRECTION;

3.VERBALLY EXPRESSING MY INTENTION TO AMEND OR REVOKE THIS DESIGNATION; OR

4.SIGNING A NEW DESIGNATION THAT IS MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THIS DESIGNATION.

MY HEALTH CARE SURROGATE’S AUTHORITY BECOMES EFFECTIVE WHEN MY PRIMARY PHYSICIAN DETERMINES THAT I AM UNABLE TO MAKE MY OWN HEALTH CARE DECISIONS UNLESS I INITIAL EITHER OR BOTH OF THE FOLLOWING BOXES:

IF I INITIAL THIS BOX [_______] MY HEALTH CARE SURROGATE’S AUTHORITY TO RECEIVE

MY HEALTH INFORMATION TAKES EFFECT IMMEDIATELY.

IF I INITIAL THIS BOX [_______] MY HEALTH CARE SURROGATE’S AUTHORITY TO MAKE

HEALTH CARE DECISIONS FOR ME TAKES EFFECT IMMEDIATELY. PURSUANT TO SECTION 765.204(3), FLORIDA STATES, ANY INSTRUCTIONS OF HEALTH CARE DECISIONS I MAKE,

EITHER VERBALLY OR IN WRITING, WHILE I POSSESS CAPACITY SHALL SUPERCEDE ANY INSTRUCTIONS OR HEALTH CARE DECISIONS MADE BY MY SURROGATE THAT ARE IN MATERIAL CONFLICT WITH THOSE MADE BY ME.

Signature: Sign and date the form here:

_________________ ______________________________ _______________________________

DateSignaturePrinted Name

_________________________________________________________________________________

Address

Signatures of Witnesses:

Witness:_________________________________ Witness:_________________________________

Printed Name: ____________________________ Printed Name: ____________________________

Address: ________________________________ Address: ________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Phone: _________________________________ Phone: ___________________________________

Source: The 2016 Florida Statutes, Title XLIV, CIVIL RIGHTS, Chapter 765. Health Care Directives 765.203 Suggested Form of Designation © 1995-2017 The Florida Legislature.

Dos and Don'ts

When filling out the Florida Health Care Surrogate form, it is essential to approach the task with care. Here are four things you should and shouldn't do:

  • Do ensure that you understand the responsibilities of your health care surrogate. Selecting someone who knows your values and wishes regarding medical care is crucial.
  • Do provide complete and accurate information. Fill in all required fields, including names, phone numbers, and addresses, to avoid any confusion later.
  • Do initial the sections that authorize your surrogate to make decisions and receive health information. This step is vital for the form to be valid and effective.
  • Do keep a copy of the completed form. Having a record of your designation can help clarify your wishes in the future.
  • Don't rush through the process. Take your time to ensure that all information is accurate and reflects your wishes.
  • Don't forget to have witnesses sign the form. The signatures of two witnesses are required to validate your designation.
  • Don't assume your surrogate will know your preferences. It's important to communicate your wishes clearly to the person you designate.
  • Don't neglect to review the form periodically. Changes in your health or circumstances may require updates to your designation.