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 principals 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