As the incarcerated population ages and includes more people with dementia, the need to understand and trigger the process for obtaining alternative health care decision-makers becomes critical. This discussion touches on the history of health care rights before turning to a practical exploration of how to ensure patients, including those whose dementia progresses and impairs judgment, are protected through well-established legal processes for granting surrogates the power to make important health care decisions.

Educational Objectives

• Describe the legal principles underlying the right to make one's own medical decisions and the impact on the aging incarcerated population
• Explain the differences between health care surrogates who are selected by the patient versus those appointed by a court
• Discuss how to recognize when a dementia patient needs a health care surrogate and how to obtain one

Level: Intermediate