Your proxy must not be afraid to ask your doctor questions about your condition and prognosis. Since your doctor's definition of recovery might be very different from your own, your proxy must ask about the goals of the treatment and determine whether it would prove to be a benefit or a burden to someone in your condition. Many doctors are afraid to remove treatment, not wanting to be sued by a patient's family. If the doctor is unresponsive to your questions or concerns, your proxy should seek the assistance of a Patient Representative or other hospital administrator, such as the chief of medicine, to improve communication with your doctor. Support Understanding life support measures is essential when filing an advance directive and being a health care proxy.
Life support is used to replace or support a failing bodily function.
Patients are often put on life support temporarily until their illness is stabilized or cured and their body resumes normal functioning. However, there are cases in which the body never regains the ability to function without life support. To make an informed decision about life support, one must consider the benefits as well as the burdens of the treatment being offered. A treatment may be considered beneficial if it relieves suffering or restores body functioning, whereas the same treatment might be considered burdensome if it causes pain or prolongs the dying process. In your advance directive, you can state that you want certain life support measures used for a specific length of time, with their continuance based on improvement in your condition.