The South Carolina Medical Power of Attorney sanctions a conveyance of decision-making controls to a designated individual to represent another concerning health care treatment options. The extension of agency is granted exclusively once the declarant is deemed incapacitated or can no longer express their preference(s). The document can be adjusted for each distinct case, allowing the principal to issue broad or limited authority to one or two indicated agents. There is additional space allocated to select the desired action to take concerning life-sustaining treatment, tube feeding, and organ donation for reference purposes. Revocation of the arrangement can be observed by creating a new updated version of the form or issuing a revocation of power of attorney agreement to nullify the original.

Laws

Statute – South Carolina Statutory Health Care Power of Attorney Act (§ 62-5-5)

Definition – “Agent” or “health care agent” means an individual designated in a health care power of attorney to make health care decisions on behalf of a principal (§ 62-5-501(1)).

Signing Requirements – To properly certify the document’s execution, two (2) acceptable witnesses must be available to view and confirm the signing. The witnesses must not be related to the principal or stand to gain in any way from the transaction to be deemed suitable as described in the South Carolina Code of Laws Unannotated § 62-5-503(3).

Revocation – § 62-5-512