An Act relative to healthcare proxies

This bill amends Massachusetts law to allow a patient's attending physician to designate another willing physician as a temporary healthcare proxy if the original designated agent is unavailable, unwilling, or unable to make decisions. The new provision requires the attending physician to make reasonable efforts to contact the original agent, obtain an independent assessment of the patient's lack of capacity from a qualified professional, and secure consensus from the facility's medical ethics committee before making such a designation. Additionally, the bill mandates that the identity of the designated physician be documented in the patient's medical record and explicitly states that this change does not authorize physician-assisted suicide.