But state laws may trump those choices, possibly leading to care delays.
Nearly one out of 10 veterans in Connecticut younger than 65 have chosen someone who is not part of their immediate family as their next of kin, a new study reports. Immediate -- or nuclear -- family generally includes a person's spouse, adult child, parent or sibling.
However, state laws won't allow non-immediate family members to make medical decisions on behalf of the patients, unless the patients have specifically named them in a living will or other legal document, said lead author Dr. Andrew Cohen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.
SOURCE: MedlinePlus - A Trusted Health Information for You
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