Health Care Proxies
Massachusetts Health Care Proxy LawyersEveryone has the right to make his or her own medical decisions. Unfortunately, circumstances may arise whereby an individual cannot communicate that decision. It is for this reason that a health care proxy is recommended. Serving the Elderly and Their Families throughout MassachusettsA health care proxy gives a specific statement stating what the individual’s health care decisions would be if that person is unable to make or communicate medical decisions. It also serves to appoint the agent who is responsible for communicating and carrying out the individual’s wishes. Remember, the agent is not making the medical decision, but, rather, only carrying out the principal’s wish. A health care proxy can be very broad or very limited. One of the most important provisions would be the decision to terminate life-support treatment or relay a do-not-resuscitate order. Our elder law attorneys recommend the following paragraph: “If the situation should arise in which there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery to any medically significant degree from what may fairly be described, upon the basis of then current medical knowledge, as an extreme, incapacitating, and irreversible or terminal physical or mental disability, to make whatever decisions and take whatever steps are necessary (including the termination of life support systems) to carry out my express wish that I be allowed to die and not be kept alive by artificial means or heroic measures, subject, however, to the administration of medication or the performance of medical procedures that alleviate suffering and constitute comfort care even though that may shorten my remaining life. The authority under this paragraph extends specifically (without hereby limiting the generality of this paragraph) to the termination of any mechanical life support system or device and the providing or the withholding, as my agent shall determine, of artificial hydration or nutrition or both.” If you have questions about a health care proxy and how it affects you and your family, send us an e-mail or call (617) 523-1555 or toll free 1-866-353-7287. Free initial consultation. The Elder Law Centers is an affiliate of Cushing & Dolan, P.C., a Boston law firm known for sophisticated and personalized approaches to estate planning and tax issues. Our lawyers devote their practices exclusively to helping elderly people and their families. |
