Free Fillable South Carolina Medical Power of Attorney Form

Using a South Carolina medical power of attorney form, you can keep the peace of mind, knowing that even if you suffer from severe trauma or get incapacitated, a trusted agent will make decisions on your behalf with your best interest in mind. The power of attorney form should be completed in advance, with the principal thinking carefully about selecting their trusted agent to manage their medical care procedures and make life-changing decisions.

Create This Document Online

Once you assign an agent to handle your medical condition, you give them the right to:

Decide on the provision of food and hydration via feeding tubes;
Make arrangements regarding your residential, medical, or hospice accommodation;
Make decisions about medical care and surgical interventions;
Hire and dismiss the healthcare and nursing staff catering to your needs.

These are highly sensitive issues, so it is highly recommended to thoroughly consider the agent’s selection to avoid disappointment and discomfort.

South Carolina power of attorney forms – this particular page will help you find out more about other powers of attorney used in South Carolina.

Filling out the South Carolina Medical POA

To complete a South Carolina medical power of attorney form, you can download a ready template from our website. It is ready for filling out, containing all sections required by the South Carolina legislation. Otherwise, you can build a customizable form on your own by using our step-by-step builder.

Once the form is ready for filling out, make sure to follow these steps.

Choose Agents

The South Carolina medical POA form requires the principal to stipulate the primary agent and two alternates at the beginning of the document. Alternates are needed to provide an extra layer of protection to the principal, safeguarding them from situations in which the primary agent may fail to perform their duties. All particulars should be included for the principal, primary agent, and alternate agents (name, address, telephone numbers).

Set the Timeframe

In South Carolina, the medical POA is durable by default, indicating that the principal provides an agent with all medical-related authority for the period of their mental incapacitation.

Delineate the Agent’s Powers

The following section enumerates the powers assigned to a designated agent by the POA document. They include refusing or confirming various treatment, diagnostic, and surgical procedures, pain relief medication administration, admission to and discharge from medical and nursing facilities, and healthcare-related decision implementation. A separate section with blank spaces is provided within this part to allow the principal to stipulate any additional authorities or limitations for the agent.

State Your Additional Desires

The following sections are dedicated to the principal’s additional preferences regarding specific procedures, such as organ donation, declaration of a desire for a natural death, life-sustaining treatment decisions, tube feeding preferences, and the like. The agent will be authorized to make only the decisions that the principal initials in the POA.

Dating, Signing, and Sealing

The final step is to indicate the current date and sign the POA. The particulars and signatures of witnesses are included as well. The notarization section is optional, filled out by a notary public if you decide to undergo the procedure.

South Carolina Requirements

In South Carolina, POA documents are regulated by the SC Code § 62-5-517 (2019). This piece of South Carolina legislation sets out the requirements for POA signing as follows:

The age of the principal should be 18 years old and above;
The principal should sign a medical POA in the presence of two witnesses;
The POA has to be notarized to take legal effect.

It also covers the medical procedures that a medical POA can delegate from a principal to an agent. These include provisions related to the principal’s optional preferences covering organ donation after death, tube feeding, life-sustaining treatment, and specific treatments the principal chooses not to have. These aspects can be stipulated in the medical POA, becoming mandatory for the health care agent to follow and falling outside the scope of the agent’s decision-making authority.