Your agent can also decide how your wishes apply as your medical condition changes. Hospitals, doctors and other health care providers must follow your agent's decisions as if they were your own. You may give the person you select as your health care agent as little or as much authority as you want. You may allow your agent to make all health care decisions or only certain ones. You may also give your agent instructions that he or she has to follow. This form can also be used to document your wishes or instructions with regard to organ and/or tissue donation.

Making decisions about how you want to live the remainder of your life and appointing the appropriate person to be your health care agent can be overwhelming. In order to assist in the decision making process, the Department recommends the following steps:

Clarify Values and Beliefs

It is important to consider and to think about your individual wishes as they relate to how you want to live the remainder of your life. Most people don't have any idea how to begin to think about this or begin a discussion about this. Many people are finding that using tools, such as a values assessment, may help to pinpoint key feelings and opinions about how they want to live the remainder of their lives.