Wyoming Medical Power of Attorney for a Disabled Adult

How Medical POA Works in Wyoming

A Power of Attorney for Health Care in Wyoming lets your adult child with a disability name you as their healthcare agent — the person authorized to make medical decisions, select providers, approve treatments, and access health records when your child cannot do so independently.

This authority is governed by the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act (W.S. § 35-22-401 et seq.) and is part of a broader Advance Health Care Directive that combines the healthcare proxy with a living will documenting treatment preferences.

The agent's authority is typically springing — it activates only when the primary physician certifies in writing that your child lacks the capacity to understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a proposed treatment. Until that certification, your child makes their own medical choices.

Execution Requirements

Under W.S. § 35-22-403(b), the healthcare POA must be:

• In writing and signed by the principal (your child)
• Either notarized or witnessed by at least two adult witnesses

The witness restrictions are specific. Witnesses cannot be:

• The designated healthcare agent
• A treating healthcare provider or their employee
• An operator or employee of a community or residential care facility where the principal lives

Here's what makes Wyoming distinctive: blood relatives and heirs are not disqualified from serving as witnesses. Many states bar family members from witnessing medical directives. Wyoming doesn't. A sibling, grandparent, or other relative can witness the document as long as they aren't the named healthcare agent.

What the Healthcare Agent Can Do

Once activated, the agent has broad authority including:

• Consent to or refuse medical, surgical, and psychiatric treatment
• Select and discharge healthcare providers and facilities
• Access all medical records protected by HIPAA
• Approve diagnostic tests and procedures
• Make end-of-life treatment decisions consistent with the principal's documented wishes

The directive can include specific instructions — preferences about resuscitation, ventilator use, pain management, or organ donation — that the agent is bound to follow.

The Surrogate Consent Backup

Even without a formal healthcare directive, Wyoming provides a statutory fallback. Under W.S. § 35-22-406, when a patient lacks capacity and has no designated agent, the treating physician can seek consent from a surrogate in this priority order: spouse, adult child, parent, grandparent, adult sibling, adult grandchild.

For a young adult with a disability whose parent is typically the first available surrogate, this statute means you already have some medical decision-making authority by default. But relying on surrogate consent has gaps — it doesn't give you access to medical records, it doesn't cover routine decisions when the patient technically has capacity but struggles to communicate, and the priority order might not always match your family's situation.

A formal healthcare directive eliminates these ambiguities. It names exactly who decides, specifies what they can decide, and documents the principal's own wishes.

Setting This Up Before 18

Execute the healthcare directive shortly after your child turns 18 — not before. Legal documents signed by a minor don't carry the same weight, and the healthcare agent designation takes effect based on the adult principal's documented intent.

Have the capacity conversation with your child's physician beforehand so you're ready to execute within the first few weeks of adulthood. If there's concern about whether your child can understand the document, get a written capacity assessment first.

The Wyoming Adult Guardianship & Alternatives Guide includes preparation checklists for both the healthcare directive and the companion financial POA, so families can execute both documents in a single session.

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