Health Care Proxy + Medical Decision-Making
A health care proxy helps ensure your medical decisions are made by someone you trust if you're unable to make them yourself. It’s important to choose someone who understands your wishes for your care.

Understanding health care proxies + medical decision-making

By law, hospitals must provide information about:

  • Your right to make decisions about your medical care
  • Your right to create an “advance directive”
  • The hospital’s policies about these rights

This information is here to help you. If you have any questions, speak to your doctors, nurses, or other providers. Interpreter services are available if you need assistance.

Thinking ahead

If you're seriously ill or injured and unable to make decisions about your medical care, your family, friends, or caregivers may need to make those decisions for you. This could include important choices, like whether to continue life support.

You may also have concerns about what kind of treatment you’d want if you can’t decide for yourself and your loved ones may not know your wishes. It can be difficult for them to make decisions in these situations.

Giving advance instructions

To ensure your wishes are followed, you can plan ahead. In Massachusetts, you can choose someone close to you, like a spouse or friend, to be your “health care agent.” This person can make medical decisions for you if you can’t.

You can complete a Health Care Proxy form to appoint your agent and give specific instructions about the care you want—or don’t want. However, making your agent's decisions too specific could limit their ability to respond to unexpected situations. Instead, consider giving flexible guidelines through discussions or a "Guidelines Only" document.

Discussing the issues

It’s hard to predict what kind of care you might want in the future, so it’s important to talk to your doctor and health care agent about your values and preferences.

For example, you may want to discuss:

  • When you would want to be revived if your heart or breathing stops
  • Whether you want life-support options, like breathing tubes or feeding tubes
  • What kind of treatment would you want if you were unconscious and not expected to recover

Other things to consider are:

  • The ability to talk to family and friends
  • The quality of your life and whether you want your life prolonged, even with machines
  • Your family’s wishes
  • The cost of your care

At Tufts Medicine, our doctors and nurses will always provide comfort and pain relief.
clipboard

Health care proxy forms

Fill out a Health Care Proxy form to appoint someone to make decisions for you if you can’t. Below are the forms in several languages:

English
Chinese
Spanish
Vietnamese

How to complete your health care proxy form

If you decide to fill out this form, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor and the person you choose as your health care agent about what kind of medical care you want if you become very ill and unable to make decisions.

  1. Write your name and address, and the name, address, and phone number of the person you choose to be your health care agent. You can also name a backup agent if your first choice can’t serve.
  2. If you want your agent to have full authority to make decisions for you, check option “(b).” If you want to set limits or give instructions, check option “(a)” and write them down.
  3. If you use the back of the form, sign and date both the front and back, and have your signature witnessed.
  4. Two adults (who aren’t your agent or backup) must witness your signing. They should sign, date, and print their names and addresses.

Once you’ve completed the form, give a copy to your doctor and another copy to your health care agent. You might also want to give a copy to your lawyer or keep one with your important papers.

If you have questions, talk to your doctor.
lightbulb

FAQs
What are my legal rights when it comes to medical care?

You have legal rights when it comes to your medical care. These rights include:

The right to get all important medical information from your doctor that will help you decide whether to agree to a procedure or treatment they recommend.

  • The right to have that information explained in a clear and understandable way.
  • The right to accept or refuse any treatment or procedure, including life-sustaining treatments.

Before deciding to accept any treatment or procedure, you should be given the following information:

  • A description of the recommended treatment or procedure, including its risks, benefits, and likely outcome.
  • A description of other reasonable treatment options, with their risks, benefits, and likely outcomes, including the effects of not having any treatment.

Any other important medical information that will help you make your decision.
What happens if I don’t have a health care proxy?

If you haven't filled out a Health Care Proxy, your family might need to make decisions based on what they believe you would want. If there's no family, or if there's disagreement, a court might appoint a guardian to make those decisions.

Even if you haven't completed a Health Care Proxy, you can still write down guidelines about how you’d like to be treated if you can't make decisions for yourself. This is often called a "Living Will." However, in Massachusetts, the law mostly uses the Health Care Proxy for decision-making.
What is a health care proxy and how do I choose one?

If you're 18 or older and able to make decisions, you can complete a Health Care Proxy form to choose someone you trust to make health care decisions for you if you're unable to. This person is called your Health Care Agent.

Your Health Care Agent can make any decisions you could make, based on your wishes. If you're unable to communicate your wishes, the agent will act in your best interest. The agent’s decisions must follow your instructions and responsible medical practice.

If you're under 18, your parent or legal guardian typically makes medical decisions for you. Some minors may have the legal ability to make their own decisions in specific situations.

You can change or revoke the proxy at any time. If your spouse is your agent and you divorce, the proxy is automatically revoked. Though not required to receive medical care, it’s recommended to share your Health Care Proxy with your doctor and health care facility.
Are there special protections for mental health treatment in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts has special laws protecting you in certain situations, including:

  • The involuntary use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
  • The use of antipsychotic medications
  • Being committed to a mental health facility