Healthcare Surrogate Part One

A Health Care Surrogate is the person that knows you and what quality of life means to you. A person you trust to be your voice should you never not be able to interpret detailed health information and make choices for yourself with regards to Complex Medical Decisions (not finances). This should be a person you have communicated with over time about how you like to live, what suffering means to you and your personal preferences for where you want to be at the end of life (at home with family and friends or at a hospital on machines).

Your physicians and nurses will want to know what you would and would not accept. This may change over time as disease states typically advance over time or as new treatments become available. Health Care has enjoyed tremendous advances in care and there are times when Ethical and Moral questions arise. The patient, family, physician and nurses may all ask for guidance to answer the question: would the patient find their health condition and this type of care as Life Promoting or Death Prolonging.

The HCS provides guidance to the Health Care Team to accept or decline treatment interventions based on what the patient would say if they were able to speak now. The role of the HCS is one of honor. The medical team will support and aid the HCS with this responsibility to provide information regarding risks, benefits, outcomes and quality of life in various scenarios. Being the HCS should not be a burden of decisions, the HCS is not making the decisions for the patient but informing the Medical Team what the patient would want.