There are two types of POA, financial and medical. Financial POA forms can be found online and in some office supply stores as well as from an attorney.
The medical POA is sometimes included with the healthcare directive that Eyerish described above, and sometimes it is a separate form. It names the person who will make medical decisions on the patient's behalf. The healthcare directive outlines the patient's wishes. When my mother moved to a retirement community they provided a medical POA form for my mother to sign if desired, as well as a medical directive form titled "Respect my Wishes". I am very glad that these things were in place years ago because I doubt that my mom would be considered competent to make those decisions now. If your MIL is in a care facility now, you could ask if they have these forms. Generally, the signatures need to be notarized.
P.S. I guess I left out the part where my dad's medical directive basically said no machines, no heroic efforts to save his life, etc. He didn't want any of that so when he told me that he most definitely wanted those things I knew he was incompetent.
Some people suggest seeing an attorney for these documents. And seeing an attorney for the advanced healthcare directive is probably a good idea but I got a POA off of the internet (legalzoom). My dad and I filled it out, we had a witness, we signed it and had it notarized. And I never had a problem with it and I used it all the time toward the end of my dad's life. No one questioned its validity.
But a healthcare directive (they're called different things) should probably be drawn up by an attorney because it's so detailed and different people want different things. As opposed to an POA which is pretty much boilerplate.
An advanced medical directive is a must-have. My parents drew theirs up with an attorney years and years ago and I never needed it until the end, with my dad. Being his medical directive we had some serious choices to make as far as how far we wanted to go with his care (he was in a NH by this time). I was uncomfortable issuing blanket orders to the staff without being convinced that he was incompetent to make these decisions on his own. So I got out the medical directive and asked him questions: "Dad, this says that you do not want to be put on a respirator and be kept alive. Is that true?" He said he wanted to be 'on machines' and he wanted to be kept alive. I asked him if he were to go into cardiac arrest would he want the Dr. to apply the paddles to get his heart shocked into working again and he said, "Oh yes, definitely". Thus I became convinced that he was unable to make his own decisions and I was satisfied. With us, there were some procedures that my dad could have had to maybe prolong his life but they would have been very difficult on him and we didn't know what to do. Having the advanced medical directive saved my dad a lot of agony and upset which is what it's designed for.
So you need to documents: A POA and an Advanced Medical Directive. We had these 2 separate documents. I'm not sure they can be combined into one document but I think it's best to have 2 documents. Easier.
And good for you for getting these things together. They are a must-have when caring for elderly parents.
The medical POA is sometimes included with the healthcare directive that Eyerish described above, and sometimes it is a separate form. It names the person who will make medical decisions on the patient's behalf. The healthcare directive outlines the patient's wishes. When my mother moved to a retirement community they provided a medical POA form for my mother to sign if desired, as well as a medical directive form titled "Respect my Wishes". I am very glad that these things were in place years ago because I doubt that my mom would be considered competent to make those decisions now. If your MIL is in a care facility now, you could ask if they have these forms. Generally, the signatures need to be notarized.
But a healthcare directive (they're called different things) should probably be drawn up by an attorney because it's so detailed and different people want different things. As opposed to an POA which is pretty much boilerplate.
An advanced medical directive is a must-have. My parents drew theirs up with an attorney years and years ago and I never needed it until the end, with my dad. Being his medical directive we had some serious choices to make as far as how far we wanted to go with his care (he was in a NH by this time). I was uncomfortable issuing blanket orders to the staff without being convinced that he was incompetent to make these decisions on his own. So I got out the medical directive and asked him questions: "Dad, this says that you do not want to be put on a respirator and be kept alive. Is that true?" He said he wanted to be 'on machines' and he wanted to be kept alive. I asked him if he were to go into cardiac arrest would he want the Dr. to apply the paddles to get his heart shocked into working again and he said, "Oh yes, definitely". Thus I became convinced that he was unable to make his own decisions and I was satisfied. With us, there were some procedures that my dad could have had to maybe prolong his life but they would have been very difficult on him and we didn't know what to do. Having the advanced medical directive saved my dad a lot of agony and upset which is what it's designed for.
So you need to documents: A POA and an Advanced Medical Directive. We had these 2 separate documents. I'm not sure they can be combined into one document but I think it's best to have 2 documents. Easier.
And good for you for getting these things together. They are a must-have when caring for elderly parents.