What if no advance directive has been signed?
Arizona, like most (but not all) states, provides a mechanism for a family member or concerned friend to make medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated without having signed an advance directive. The Arizona law makes it clear that those individuals have power to act in a specified priority: spouse, then child or children, then parent(s), then “domestic partner,” then sibling(s), then concerned friend. If you would like someone with lower priority to act, you must sign a health care (and/or mental health care) power of attorney–a lower-priority person who insists that you wanted to give him or her authority will not have that authority unless higher-priority persons acquiesce. There is one other important limitation on the so-called “statutory surrogates”–individuals named on this list (as opposed to health care agents and guardians of the person) do NOT have the power to authorize withholding or withdrawal of artificially provided but life sustaining food and fluids.
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