(a) The principal may, after executing a durable power of attorney for health care, do any of the following:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 34-6-207

  • Durable power of attorney for health care: means a durable power of attorney to the extent that it authorizes an attorney in fact to make health care decisions for the principal. See Tennessee Code 34-6-201
  • Health care: means any care, treatment, service or procedure to maintain, diagnose or treat an individual's physical or mental condition, and includes medical care as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 34-6-201
  • Health care provider: means a person who is licensed, certified or otherwise authorized or permitted by the laws of this state to administer health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession. See Tennessee Code 34-6-201
  • Person: includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association, the state, a city, county, city and county, or other public entity or governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal entity. See Tennessee Code 34-6-201
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
(1) Revoke the appointment of the attorney in fact under the durable power of attorney for health care by notifying the attorney in fact orally or in writing; or
(2) Revoke the authority granted to the attorney in fact to make health care decisions by notifying the health care provider orally or in writing.
(b) If the principal notifies the health care provider orally or in writing that the authority granted to the attorney in fact to make health care decisions is revoked, the health care provider shall make the notification a part of the principal’s medical records and shall make a reasonable effort to notify the attorney in fact of the revocation.
(c) It is presumed that the principal has the capacity to revoke a durable power of attorney for health care. This presumption is a presumption affecting the burden of proof.
(d) Unless it provides otherwise, a valid durable power of attorney for health care revokes any prior durable power of attorney for health care.
(e) Unless the durable power of attorney for health care expressly provides otherwise, if after executing a durable power of attorney for health care the principal’s marriage is dissolved or annulled, the dissolution or annulment revokes any designation of the former spouse as an attorney in fact to make health care decisions for the principal.
(f) If authority granted by a durable power of attorney for health care is revoked under this section, a person is not subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability for acting in good faith reliance upon the durable power of attorney unless the person has actual knowledge of the revocation.
(g) The authority of an attorney in fact acting under a durable power of attorney for health care as provided in this part may be terminated or revoked only pursuant to this section and shall not be affected by the existence of a living will executed by the principal.
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