An Act relative to healthcare proxies

Summary

The bill amends Massachusetts law so that if a patient’s designated health‑care agent, proxy, or alternate is unavailable, unwilling, or lacks capacity, the attending physician may appoint a willing physician to make treatment decisions. The appointment requires documented effort to contact the original proxy, an independent determination of the patient’s incapacity, ethics‑committee consensus, and record‑keeping. It clarifies that the change does not permit physician‑assisted suicide.

AI-generated summary — may be incomplete or inaccurate. Verify against the official bill text.

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