How to Create a Medical Power of Attorney in Arizona

To create a medical power of attorney in Arizona, you choose an adult you trust to make health care decisions for you, put that authority in a written document that clearly states your intent, and then date and sign it in front of either a notary or at least one qualifying adult witness. Arizona Revised Statutes 36-3221 sets the rules, and getting each piece right is what separates a document hospitals will honor from one they can challenge.¹

Arizona’s statute uses the term “health care power of attorney.” That is the same instrument people commonly call a medical power of attorney, and the steps below work from that statute.

Step 1: Choose Your Agent and a Backup

Your agent is the person who will speak for you when you can’t speak for yourself about medical care. Any adult can serve, and Arizona lets you name more than one person, which is why most people pick a primary agent and one or two alternates in case the first choice can’t be reached.¹

There is one specific disqualification in Arizona. A person whose fiduciary license has been suspended or revoked under ARS 14-5651 cannot serve as your agent unless they are related to you by blood, adoption, or marriage. If their license is later reinstated and in good standing, the prohibition lifts.¹ For most people, that rule never comes into play.

Legal eligibility is the floor. The person who actually belongs in this role is someone who knows your values, stays calm when a doctor is giving them hard news, and will push back when they need to. Talk to your chosen agent about your treatment preferences before you sign anything. That conversation is where this plan either works or fails.

Step 2: Decide What the Document Will Cover

A health care power of attorney gives your agent broad authority to make medical decisions once you can’t make them yourself. Under Arizona law, the same document can also authorize your agent to handle funeral and body disposition arrangements after your death, though you don’t have to include that.¹

Think about whether you also want a living will, which records your specific treatment preferences for end-of-life situations rather than naming someone to decide. Arizona lets you combine a living will with your health care power of attorney in one document or keep them as two. If you keep them separate, attach the living will to the original power of attorney and to every copy you give out.²

One boundary worth knowing up front: a health care power of attorney does not cover money or property. For that you need a separate financial power of attorney.

If you want your agent to be able to see your medical records before you lose capacity, add a HIPAA authorization. Federal privacy rules treat a person who has legal authority to make health care decisions for you as your “personal representative” with access to the information needed for those decisions.³ That authority usually turns on only when the power of attorney activates. A separate HIPAA release, which most hospitals and doctors’ offices will provide, lets your agent stay in the loop before any crisis.

Step 3: Use a Form That Meets the Four Statutory Requirements

Arizona requires every health care power of attorney to satisfy four things:¹

It must be in writing. Oral instructions do not count.
The language must clearly show you intend to create a health care power of attorney. Casual phrasing like “I want my daughter to help with medical stuff” is not enough.
You must date and sign the document, or make your mark on it, confirming you understand what you’re granting.
It must be notarized or witnessed in writing by at least one adult, who confirms you were present, appeared to be of sound mind, and signed free from pressure or coercion.

The Arizona Attorney General’s office publishes a free health care power of attorney form built around these requirements, and it is the easiest way to make sure you don’t miss something.⁴ You are not required to use that specific form; any document that satisfies the four requirements above is valid.

Step 4: Sign With a Qualifying Notary or Witness

Arizona restricts who can notarize or witness your signature, so pick that person carefully before you sit down to sign:¹

The person you’ve named as your agent cannot also serve as witness or notary on the same document.
Anyone directly involved in providing your health care at the time you sign is also disqualified.

If you use only one witness instead of a notary, an extra rule applies. That sole witness cannot be related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, and cannot be someone who stands to inherit from your estate at the time of signing.¹ A trusted neighbor, coworker, or friend with no stake in your estate is usually the simplest choice.

If You Cannot Physically Sign

Being unable to sign does not stop you from creating a valid document. If you can’t sign or make a mark, the notary or each witness must note on the document that you directly communicated to them that the power of attorney reflects your wishes and that you intended to adopt it at that time.¹ You have to personally communicate your intent; the witness or notary handles the written confirmation.

Step 5: Distribute and Consider Registering the Document

A signed document that nobody can find is close to useless in an emergency. Give copies to your agent, each alternate, your primary care doctor, and a close family member or two. Keep the original somewhere accessible, not locked in a safe deposit box only you can open.

Arizona also maintains a statewide advance directive registry, which has been transferred from the Secretary of State’s office to AzHDR, Arizona’s Health Information Exchange. Registering your document allows hospitals and providers to locate it electronically if you arrive for emergency care and can’t communicate. Registration is optional and does not affect whether the document is legally valid. Even if you register, keep physical copies in the hands of the people most likely to be contacted first.

When Your Agent’s Authority Begins

Signing does not hand your agent any immediate power. Most health care powers of attorney in Arizona are “springing,” which means the authority activates only after a physician examines you and certifies in writing that you can no longer make or communicate your own medical decisions. Until then, you make your own choices. If your capacity returns, your authority over your own care resumes with it.

Changing Your Mind or Replacing the Document

You can revoke your health care power of attorney at any time, by any method that communicates your intent. Arizona does not require a specific format. You can tear up the document, write a new one that supersedes it, or tell your agent or your doctor you’re revoking it. The revocation takes effect as soon as you communicate it to either your agent or your health care provider.⁵

Once a health care provider learns of the revocation, they must promptly record it in your medical record and notify your agent and the medical staff responsible for your care.⁵ Oral revocation is legally valid, but putting it in writing and delivering it to everyone holding a copy removes any argument later. If you’re swapping agents rather than canceling altogether, the cleanest move is to execute a fresh health care power of attorney naming the new agent. Amendments generally have to meet the same signing and witnessing rules as the original.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3221 – Health Care Power of Attorney; Scope; Requirements; Limitations; Fiduciaries
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3261 – Living Will; Verification; Liability
3
eCFR. Title 45 Section 164.502 – Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information
4
Arizona Attorney General. Life Care Planning – Health Care Power of Attorney
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3222 – Health Care Power of Attorney; Amendments