Personal Essay On Health Care Power Of Attorney

A few months ago, I was driving with my father when he suddenly turned off the radio. “I need to talk to you,” he said. I nodded, searching his eyes for a hint of what was to follow. “I recently redid my will,” he stated reluctantly. He grabbed my hand and continued; “You know I’m not that healthy. My biggest fear is that something will happen to me and I won’t be able to make my own choices. I need someone who will make the right ones. So I rewrote my will, and Karly, I made you my Health Care Power of Attorney.” In my 20 years of being alive I had never seen my father cry, but as I gazed at him, he let a single tear slip out of his right eye. I asked him why he did not choose my twin, his sister, his girlfriend, or even his best friend that he has had since second grade. “Because I trust you. You can

My aspiration to be a physician has always been accompanied by my desire to comfort those in pain. However, pain is not only physical, but can also manifest mentally and spiritually. When I was in 10th grade my parents endured an extremely messy divorce. Fights and restraining orders dropped my parents down a hole that took months to climb out of. During this time, I was forced to mature as my household stability came crashing down. Complications escalated when my father had a stress-induced heart attack, resulting in an unexpected trip to the emergency room. Following the heart attack, whenever I wasn’t at school or going to counseling it was my job to take of my father. I learned how to change bandages and to support someone not only weak physically, but also emotionally. During those few months my dad was my responsibility, and my sole purpose was to minimize the pain. Some days it was in the form of a hug, and other days it was in the form of preparing his medication. I made it my goal to make someone who was having a bad day smile, and that would continue to be one of my goals as a