Massachusetts laws
MGL c. 201D Health care proxies
MGL c. 190B, Art. V, Pt. 5, §§ 5-501 through 5-507 Durable power of attorney
Federal laws
42 USC 482.13 Patient’s rights, patient’s representation
42 USC 1396a(w)(1) "Patient Self-Determination Act", state plans and maintenance of written policies and procedures respecting advanced directives
42 USC 1395cc(f) Social Security Act: Maintenance of written policies and procedures, patient’s rights to advanced directives
Federal regulations
42 CFR 489.100 Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, advance directives
Forms
Health care proxy information and forms, Massachusetts Medical Society.
“After you have filled in the form ... make at least four photocopies of the form. Keep the original yourself where it can be found easily (not in your safe deposit box). Give copies to your doctor and/or health plan to put into your medical record. Give copies to your Agent and any Alternate Agent. You can give additional copies to family members, your clergy and/or lawyer, and other people who may be involved in your health care decision making.”
Living will form (Personal directive), Honoring Choices Massachusetts.
"Even though the Personal Directive or any Living Will in MA is not legally binding on your doctors, it gives all your care providers clear evidence of what you want and do not want for care."
Massachusetts health care proxy, Caringinfo.org.
Includes a form and an explanation of the law and what to consider.
Web sources
End of life care, Mass. Department of Public Health.
Includes links to brochures in many languages (Know your choices), regulations, and more, regarding Mass. requirement that health care providers "distribute to appropriate patients...culturally and linguistically suitable information regarding the availability of palliative care and end-of-life options."
FAQs for the public: Health care proxies, Massachusetts Health Decisions.
Answers many common questions, including How many copies should I make? And who gets them?
Health care proxies and end of life care, Mass. Medical Society.
Includes information on health care proxies, living wills, hospice, and more. Includes Important differences between health care proxies and living wills.
MOLST transition to POLST, Executive Office of Aging & Independence.
Provides information for healthcare providers and patients about the MOLST to POLST transition taking place in Massachusetts. "Statewide rollout is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2026."
POLST (Portable medical orders): Honoring the wishes of those with serious illness and frailty, National POLST Coalition.
Tool kit for health care advance planning, American Bar Association.
"To help you in this process, this tool kit contains a variety of self-help worksheets, suggestions, and resources. There are currently 9 tools in all, each clearly labeled and user-friendly. The tool kit does not create a formal advance directive for you. Instead, it helps you do the much harder job of discovering, clarifying, and communicating what is important to you in the face of serious illness."
Who's Your Agent? Program, Honoring Choices Massachusetts.
Provides sample health care proxy and personal directive as well as information about Durable Power of Attorney, Living Wills and medical orders for life-sustaining treatment (MOLST). Scroll to "5 Massachusetts Care Planning Documents."
Print sources
Elder and disability law in Massachusetts, 1st edition, MCLE, 2023.
Chapter 1: Planning for incapacity. Includes Sample Health Care Proxy and Durable Power of Attorney.
Elder law, (Massachusetts Practice, v.56) Thomson/West.
Chapter 2: Incapacity and substitute decision making.
Estate planning: With forms, 3rd ed. (Massachusetts Practice v.23), Thomson/West, 2007 with supplement.
Chapter 3: The durable power of attorney; Chapter 4: The Massachusetts health care proxy and the living will.
How to write your own living will by Edward A. Haman, 4th ed., Sphinx Pub., 2004.
"Living wills: Validity, construction and effect," 49 ALR4th 812.
Massachusetts elder law by William J. Brisk, 2nd ed., Lexis. (eBook available with library card)
Chapter 5: Planning for incapacity: Financial management; Chapter 6: Planning for medical decisions: Incapacity and end of life.
Massachusetts estate planning, will drafting and estate administration forms: Practice by John H. Clymer, 2nd ed., Lexis, loose-leaf. (eBook available with library card)
Volume 1, Chapter 13: Powers of attorney, living wills, and other delegations of authority.
A practical guide to estate planning in Massachusetts, 6th ed., MCLE, 2024.
Chapter 8: Advance medical directives: Living wills, durable powers of attorney, and health-care proxies.
"Propriety of, and liability related to, issuance or enforcement of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders," 46 ALR 5th 793.
The right to die by Alan Meisel, 3rd ed., Aspen, loose-leaf.
Chapter 7: Advanced directives.
Contact
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| Last updated: | April 28, 2025 |
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