![]() The Health Care Proxy Law was passed in 1990 ( Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 201D). Is the Health Care Proxy legal in Massachusetts? If you disagree with what your Agent is asking your doctor to do, you should say so. The old one is automatically revoked or cancelled. If you name a person to be your Agent, and later change your mind, just sign and date a new Proxy. Your Agent makes decisions for you only when and for as long as you cannot do that for yourself. If you later get well, you will again make your own decisions. The doctor will then ask the person you named in your Proxy if they are willing to make decisions on your behalf. ![]() But your Agent cannot act for you until your doctor states, in writing, that you are not able to make health care decisions for yourself. The Proxy becomes a legal document when you sign the Proxy and two witnesses sign that they saw you sign the document yourself. Once I sign the Proxy, does that mean I can no longer make health care decisions myself? As a rule of thumb, the law considers you to be a competent person unless a judge has ruled that you are legally incompetent to act in your own best interests. Who can complete a Health Care Proxy?Īny competent adult age 18 or over has the right to complete his or her own Health Care Proxy. The law allows you to name someone you trust to discuss possible treatment choices with your doctor and then decide the best treatment for you-according to your wishes or in your best interests. That person is called your Health Care Agent. The Health Care Proxy Law allows you to choose the person who will exercise your right to make your own health care decisions. ![]() But in order to make them work, they will have to be put into action by someone else. If you become ill or have an accident, and you become unable to make your own health care decisions, you don’t lose those rights. You have these rights at all times, and they apply to all recommended treatments, even treatments that could keep you alive. These include a right to be told about your illness, the treatment that your doctor is recommending, along with its possible risks and benefits, and the right to freely say yes or no to any treatment. law, you have basic rights to decide about your own health care. The Massachusetts Health Care Proxy is a simple legal form that allows you to name someone you trust to make health care decisions for you, according to your wishes, if-for any reason and at any time-you become unable to make or communicate those decisions yourself.
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