Make your health care wishes known!

It’s vitally important that those close to you understand the kind of medical treatment you would—or would not—want if you were unable to speak for yourself. You can use this Florida Health Care Directive to describe your health care wishes and to name a trusted person to oversee them. The person you name can also make other necessary health care decisions for you if you are too ill or injured to direct your own care. In addition, this form provides a document for revoking your health care directive and a letter for your surrogate, which describes the surrogate’s duties.

As you make this form, you will be asked about:

Your Surrogate

• Who should be your health care agent?
• Who should be your alternate agent and second alternate agent?

Your Surrogate's Authority

When you grant your surrogate authority, your surrogate will be able to make most health care decisions for you if you cannot make them for yourself.  With this form, you can also grant your surrogate the authority to receive information about your health from your health care providers, apply for government benefits, and make decisions about what happens to your body after death. You can also grant your surrogate additional authority or limit your surrogate’s authority, as you prefer.  You can also decide whether you want your surrogate’s authority to go into effect as soon as you sign your document, or whether your surrogate should not have authority to make decisions until you can no longer decide for yourself. 

As you go through the program, we will help you understand these issues and how your choices will affect your surrogate’s ability to make decisions on your behalf.

Your Health Care Wishes

What kind of care do you want to receive if you cannot speak for yourself? Specifically,

• In certain dire situations, do you want your life to be prolonged?
• Do you want to state anything else about the location of your care, palliative care, your personal or religious values, or anything else?
• Do you want to donate your organs or other body parts?

This form is intended for use by people who expect to receive medical care in Florida. It aligns with the Florida statutory forms Designation of Health Care Surrogate  (Fla. Stat. Ann. §765.202) and  Living Will (Fla. Stat. Ann. §765.303.) It complies with Florida law and will be familiar to health care practitioners in Florida. Do not use this form unless you expect to receive health care in Florida.

For more about this form, read Nolo’s Florida Health Care Directive FAQ

For more about health care directives (including living wills, powers of attorney for health care, DNRs, and POLST forms), see Living Wills & Medical Powers of Attorney on Nolo.com.