Why a Physician-Directed Solution
If you were in a car accident today and sustained serious injuries that put you in a coma, who would make the call on your treatment? Would they know the difference between what’s possible and what you’d actually want?
Naming a Healthcare Power of Attorney agent is more than choosing someone you love to express your wishes when you cannot speak for yourself. A family member or friend may know you intimately but may not feel comfortable navigating complex medical information or making difficult decisions under pressure.
Submitted photo
Dr. Chris Sepich, a former Wilmington internal medicine physician, witnessed these emotionally difficult scenarios far too often during his 15 years of practice. He also saw many older patients facing serious medical decisions alone, such as complex surgeries, critical illnesses, or end-of-life care, without someone they trusted to advocate for them.
A New Model for Healthcare Advocacy
To close that gap, Dr. Sepich left his practice entirely, trading the role of treating physician for the role of independent advocate to avoid any ethical conflict of interest. He founded Your HCPOA, North Carolina’s first and only physician-directed Healthcare Power of Attorney (HCPOA) agent service. Dr. Sepich, who continues to update his Board Certification to stay current in medicine, can now legally be named as someone’s HCPOA agent, bringing physician-directed expertise to the most important medical decisions of their life.
Submitted photo
Retirees Judy ,72, and Bernie ,76, Malewiacki of Wilmington were patients of Dr. Sepich for six years and like many of his former patients, they’re now his clients.
“I told him when he let me know he was leaving medicine that if anybody could make this a success, it would be him,” Judy said. “He has the compassion, and a heart bigger than the world.”
We Trusted Him With Our Health. Now We Trust Him With Our Voice
Once the Malewiackis understood how Your HCPOA works with around-the-clock availability during medical emergencies and annual reviews to keep their wishes current, naming Dr. Sepich as their HCPOA agent was an easy decision.
“It got us thinking about his medical knowledge and the trust we have in him, and we realized we really needed him to help take the emotional burden off our daughter,” Bernie said.
The Malewiackis’ only child, Jennifer, 45, is a Wilmington single mother of three young daughters. She will no longer carry the full weight of her parents’ healthcare and lifestyle wishes alone, now that Dr. Sepich is by her side.
Submitted photo
“The most important thing is having someone you can trust and you know in your heart that you can trust them,” Judy added.
For Jennifer, that trust means one less impossible decision resting on her shoulders. She can be a daughter first, not the one interpreting a prognosis in a hospital corridor.
That’s the value of a physician-directed HCPOA agent: not replacing family but relieving them.
Any content, resident submissions, guest columns, advertisements, and advertorials are not necessarily endorsed by or represent the views of Best Version Media LLC (BVM) or any municipality, homeowners associations, businesses, or organizations that this publication serves. BVM is not responsible for the reliability, suitability, or timeliness of any content submitted, inclusive of materials generated or composed through artificial intelligence (AI). All content submitted is done so at the sole discretion of the submitting party.
