Georgia Healthcare Power of Attorney Requirements

The declarant designates a health care agent, including full name and contact information, using Part One of the statutory Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care form (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-4).

The statutory form's Part One, Section 2 lets the declarant name one or more back-up health care agents who act, in the stated order, if the primary agent cannot be reached with reasonable effort or is unavailable, unable, or unwilling to act (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-4).

The entire advance directive, not just the agent designation, becomes effective only when the declarant is unable, or chooses not, to make or communicate health care decisions (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-4, Part Four effectiveness clause). Georgia does not require a written physician certification to activate the health care agent's general authority.

The agent has the same authority to make health care decisions the declarant could make, including consenting to, withholding, or withdrawing any type of medical care and accessing medical records, except that the agent may never consent to sterilization or to involuntary hospitalization or treatment for mental or emotional illness, developmental disability, or addictive disease (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-7).

Under federal HIPAA rules, a properly appointed health care agent is treated as the declarant's personal representative and has the right to access their protected health information (PHI).

Georgia's health care agent does not have the power to consent to psychosurgery, sterilization, or involuntary hospitalization or treatment for mental or emotional illness, developmental disability, or addictive disease (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-7).

The statutory form itself (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-4, Part One, Section 5) grants the health care agent power to make a disposition of the declarant's body for medical purposes pursuant to the Georgia Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, unless the declarant limits that power.

The health care agent may authorize the declarant's admission to, or discharge or transfer from, any hospital, skilled nursing facility, hospice, or other health care facility (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-7).

Unless limited by the declarant, the health care agent may consent to, withhold, or withdraw life-sustaining procedures, including artificial nutrition and hydration (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-7).

The statutory form guarantees the declarant comfort care, including pain relief, regardless of which life-sustaining treatment option is chosen, and lets the declarant state additional preferences about pain management in the form's Additional Statements section (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-4, Part Two).

The declarant signs, or acknowledges signing, in the presence of two witnesses who are of sound mind and at least eighteen years old. Neither witness may be the named agent or back-up agent, a person who will knowingly inherit from the declarant or otherwise gain a financial benefit from the declarant's death, or a person directly involved in the declarant's health care; no more than one witness may be an employee, agent, or medical staff member of the declarant's health care facility (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-5).

Georgia's Advance Directive for Health Care Act does not require, or even offer, notarization as an execution option; two qualifying witnesses are the only method the Act recognizes, and a validly executed copy has the same legal effect as the original (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-4, § 31-32-5).

The declarant may revoke the advance directive at any time and regardless of mental state or competency, by executing an inconsistent new directive, destroying the document, signing a clear written revocation, or orally revoking in the presence of a witness at least eighteen years old who confirms it in writing within thirty days (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-6). Marrying after execution revokes any other agent's designation unless the new spouse is the named agent; divorcing revokes a spouse's designation as agent.

A health care agent who, in good faith, acts with due care for the declarant's benefit and in accordance with the advance directive, or who fails to act, is not subject to civil or criminal liability for that action or inaction (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-10).

Unless the advance directive states otherwise, a health care agent known to be available and willing to act has priority over any guardian in all matters covered by the directive, so a court appointing a guardian for the declarant should respect the agent's authority rather than displace it (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-14).

An advance directive for health care validly executed in another state, and valid under that state's law, is treated as complying with Georgia's execution requirements (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-5).

Facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid must inform patients of their rights under Georgia law to make advance directives, including a Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care.

Treatment preferences to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures generally have no force or effect if the declarant is known to be pregnant, unless the fetus is not viable and the declarant has specifically initialed the form to authorize carrying out those preferences anyway (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-9).

Using Georgia's exact statutory form is optional. Any advance directive for health care, including one from another state, that substantially complies with the form set out at O.C.G.A. § 31-32-4 is valid in Georgia.