A Power of Attorney for personal care refers to creating a POA specifically for health care matters and other types of issues relating to your personal well-being, such as special housing or specific dietary requirements.
The duties of the POA for personal care in Ontario are to:
- Make important decisions on your behalf as it relates to your health and well-being;
- Give consent to health care providers for treatments, surgery or any other medical procedure;
- Manage your day-to-day living needs — food, clothing, housing and anything else that may be needed, such as recreation and transportation.
A POA for personal care tends to be someone you trust intimately, and who knows exactly what you’d want in any given situation where you’re no longer able to speak up for yourself. This is usually a spouse, a partner, an adult child, or a very close friend. You can also name two attorneys, so that one can step in to make decisions if the other one should, for whatever reason, no longer be able to.
It’s also worth pointing out that a POA for personal care only comes into effect if you are no longer mentally capable of making your own healthcare decisions.