Advantages of Advance Directives over Default Surrogate Laws

The story of Baylie Grogan illustrates the advantages of a healthcare agent over a healthcare surrogate. I included some of these in the linked CNN story.

First, not all states have default surrogates (e.g. Massachusetts, Minnesota). Second, the hierarchical sequence of default surrogate lists may not match the preferences of the patient. Third, as in this case, the hospital might seek guardianship rather than follow the default list.

The take home lesson is appoint a healthcare agent to make decisions for you should you lose decision-making capacity. Otherwise, there is a much higher risk decisions will be made by someone who knows or cares about you less. You can appoint an agent in most states with a 1-page short-form advance directive. While the term "agent" is the most common, some states refer to this appointed person as your surrogate, POA, DPOAHC, or proxy.