Using a medical power of attorney after a cancer diagnosis

There are many times when you may want to update your estate plan. One of them is if you receive a serious diagnosis. For instance, maybe you’ve recently been diagnosed with cancer. You do feel optimistic about the options that your medical team has come up with, but it is still time to take a look at your estate plan.

One thing that you may want to consider is using a medical power of attorney. Why would this be important after such a diagnosis?

Making crucial medical decisions

A medical power of attorney doesn’t change anything about how you make medical decisions today. Instead, it’s a document that allows you to pick an agent who will be permitted to make those decisions in the future.

But that person doesn’t immediately get to take over control of your healthcare decisions. They typically only get to make them if you’ve become incapacitated.

That’s why this is an important document to get in place after such a serious diagnosis. You may still be in the early stages, but cancer can grow and spread over time. Symptoms could get worse, and you could even find yourself incapacitated, either through medical intervention or by the disease itself. If that happens, knowing that you have a medical agent to make healthcare decisions is very beneficial to both you and your family.

How do you set it up?

You do need to set up a medical power of attorney in advance so that all of the paperwork is in place when it’s needed. Take the time to carefully look into all necessary legal steps as you decide who you want to be your agent and you get that documentation in place.