HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1636        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1456

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to health care proxies..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Section 4 of chapter 201D, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 6, after the word “authority”, the following:— including but not limited to any express direction the principal wishes to impose upon the agent

SECTION 2.  Section 5 of said chapter 201D, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the sentence, in lines 1 through 4, inclusive, “An agent shall have the authority to make any and all health care decisions on the principal's behalf that the principal could make, including decisions about life-sustaining treatment, subject, however, to any express limitations in the health care proxy.” and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:-

An agent shall have the authority to make any and all health care decisions on the principal's behalf that the principal could make, including decisions about life-sustaining treatment, subject, however, to any express limitations or directives in the health care proxy, which shall be binding upon the agent.