Supported Decision Making and Power of Attorney
- Supported Decision Making means that you have the right to make decisions about your healthcare and get help from friends and other people you trust.
- Supported Decision Making means that you are supported by a group of people who know you and who can help you make your own decisions.
- Health Care Power of Attorney means that you can sign a form that gives someone else permission to make health care decisions for you. You are “directing” another person you trust to do this for you.
- If you have a Health Care Power of Attorney in place, that person will make decisions if you are too sick or ill to make them.
- Your Health Care Power of Attorney form is a type of Advance Directive that you should give to a doctor or hospital.
You should make your own medical decisions or be included in making medical decisions.
If others make decisions for you, they should always ask you about your thoughts and ideas!
![Young woman in a wheelchair smiling.](/up_img/sitting-in-a-wheelchair-and-reading.jpg)