On Your Own; Your Legal Right @ Eighteen On Your Own formatted final version | Page 77

are a few documents you can put in place now to appoint someone you
trust to help you in case you need assistance sometime in the future.
Advance Directives for Healthcare
This document appoints a agent to make healthcare decisions for you in
the event you are unable to make those decisions yourself. Your agent
may be a parent, spouse, relative, or any adult you trust to care for you in
an emergency situation. The form also contains a few questions you can
answer to give your agent some guidance about how you would want your
care to be handled. These questions allow you to make choices about your
own future now in case you lose the ability to make those choices in the
future.
Your advance directive also allows your appointed healthcare agent to
access your private health information and learn about your care in case
you are ever in the hospital. For example, this could be helpful if you are
attending college far from home. If you are injured, your agent will have
the ability to call the college’s health center or the hospital and find out
how you are doing. If you do not have an advance directive in place, your
loved ones will not have access to this information.
You do not need an attorney to draft an advance directive for you.
Vermont has a state form you can fill out yourself, which is available online
at the Vermont Ethics Network website (www.vtethicsnetwork.org). You
will need to sign the form in front of two independent witnesses (not
related by blood or marriage).
Power of Attorney
A durable power of attorney appoints an agent to help you with your
finances. Your agent should be someone you trust handling your money
and property. The power of attorney is most often used in an emergency
situation. For example, if you are in the hospital, your agent can take over
everything from paying your bills to checking your mail and will make sure
everything continues to run smoothly until you are able to take everything
back over yourself. However, the power of attorney can also be helpful in
a non-emergency situation. If you are attending college far away from
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