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Enduring power of attorney (medical treatment)
An enduring power of attorney (medical treatment) is a legal document that appoints another person to make decisions about your medical treatment. The person that you appoint to be your decision-maker is called an agent.
The appointment begins if and when you are unable to make decisions about your medical treatment. You may have lost capacity permanently, such as through dementia or an acquired brain injury, or it might be temporarily, such as if you are unconscious as a result of an accident or illness.
In either event, emergency treatment can be given without your agreement but other medical treatment, such as surgery or medication, generally requires consent. If you are unable to give that consent but have an enduring power of attorney (medical treatment), your attorney can make a decision on your behalf about whether to agree to treatment.
In some cases, the power to refuse medical treatment may be significant. You may wish to appoint someone to make these decisions for you if you do not want to:
- be put on life support
- have medical interventions that may prolong your life but not be of any therapeutic value.
When making decisions on your behalf, your agent must:
- act in your best interests
- wherever possible, make the same decision that you would have made
- avoid situations where there is a conflict of interest.
It is very important that your agent understands your views about potential medical treatment, especially the type you would want them to refuse. Discuss this with them and write down your wishes.
You may also wish to discuss this with your family, as your agent has the power to override the medical decisions of family members. If your family believes the agent is not acting in your best interests, they can make an application to the Guardianship List of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to revoke or suspend your enduring power of attorney (medical treatment). See ‘Protecting your best interests’ (link below) for more information about the Guardianship List.
Appointing more than one decision-maker
You can only appoint one agent, but you can appoint an alternative decision-maker so that if your agent is unable to carry out the role there is someone else to step in. An alternate agent can only act if your attorney loses capacity, dies or they are absent for a period of time.
Limiting your agent’s powers
The powers of the agent are set out in the Medical Treatment Act 1988 (link below) and cannot be changed.
An agent can only make decisions about medical treatment. They can only refuse medical treatment on your behalf if the treatment would cause you unreasonable distress or they reasonably believe that you would consider the treatment unwarranted.
An agent does not have the authority to consent to medical procedures that are likely to lead to:
- infertility
- termination of pregnancy
- removal of tissue for transplants.
Before any of these procedures can be carried out, the agent must apply to the Guardianship List of VCAT for a decision.
More information
Changing or cancelling your powers
Powers of attorney and guardianship forms
Protecting your best interests