An Enduring Power of Guardianship (EPG) is a legal document which enables a person to appoint someone or several people (who they trust and knows them well) as an enduring guardian to make personal, lifestyle and medical treatment decisions when they are unable to make or communicate those decisions for themselves.
These forms and documents are available from the Office of the Public Advocate (external site).
This is particularly useful because it is not always possible in an Advance Health Directive to anticipate every scenario that may happen to you. Therefore, having someone who can speak on your behalf is another way of ensuring that what you want to happen to you when you are unable to communicate actually happens.
It may also be a useful way of respecting different cultures. For example, in many cultures, you don’t talk to the patient, but instead to a tribal elder. In other cultures, the most senior uncle or oldest son may be the one who has the responsibility for making important decisions.
Different groups can decide to use the Enduring Power of Guardianship to acknowledge these culture norms. Or a patient may wish that they don’t want this to happen.
For example, an elderly woman may feel ashamed to have her son making decisions about matters which are intimate to her. Maybe, she would prefer her daughter to make those decisions and choose to appoint her daughter instead of son.
The important thing to remember is that the enduring guardian can only make decisions on your behalf if they know what you want.
A person can have both an Advance Health Directive and an enduring guardian, or just an Advance Health Directive or just an enduring guardian.
