Health Care Powers
In Michigan, giving a loved-one authority for your health care -- from routine treatment, to moving a patient or authorizing surgery -- is accomplished through a Designation of Patient Advocate. Naming a Patient Advocate is also key in Michigan to the allowing someone to authorize the eventual withdrawal of life-support.
You can use the Designation, along with end-of-life instructions, to guide and reassure your Patient Advocate and caregivers. Some clients have begun to explore the limits of enforceable post-death authority, e.g. to promote in-home funerals or “green burial” practices. John Erdevig supports this effort, along with organ donation, within what is a changing legal and practical framework.