Massachusetts Law About Health Care Proxies and Living Wills
Massachusetts Laws
- MGL c. 201D Health Care Proxies
- MGL c.190B, Art. V, Pt. 5 Durable Power of Attorney, as added by Uniform Probate Code, St.2008, c. 521.
Massachusetts Regulations
- 130 CMR 450.112 Division of Medical Assistance, Advance Directives
Federal Laws
- 42 USC 1396a(w)(1) "Patient Self-Determination Act"
- 42 USC 1395cc(f) Social Security Act: Maintenance of written policies and procedures
Federal Regulations
- 42 CFR 489.100 Advance Directives
Forms
Health Care Proxy and Living Will Forms
Other Web Sources
Advance Directives, Hospice and Palliative Care Federation.
Advance Directives: Information for Consumers and Health Care Professionals, Massachusetts Medical Society Online.
Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life. Site includes decision-making guides, forms and more.
Consumer's 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 10 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."
End of Life Services Resource Guide, Massachusetts Commission on End of Life Care.
Ten Things You Should Know About Health Care Proxies and Living Wills, The Forum for Massachusetts Law. Provides basic guidance in ensuring that your health care proxy complies with legal requirements and adequately protects your wishes.
Print Sources
Consent to Treatment: A Practical Guide. 4th ed. Fay Rozovsky. Aspen, loose-leaf.
Elder Law Basics. Massachusetts Bar Institute, 2008.
Estate Planning for the Aging or Incapacitated Client in Massachusetts . MCLE, loose-leaf. vol. 1.
How to Write Your Own Living Will. 4th ed. Edward Haman. Sphinx Pub., 2004.
"Living Wills: Validity, Construction and Effect," 49 ALR4th 812.
Massachusetts Practice vol.23 (Estate Planning), 3d ed. West Group, 2007 with supplement, chap 3 & 4.
"Patient's Right to Refuse Treatment Allegedly Necessary to Sustain Life," 93 ALR 3d 67.
"Propriety of, and Liability Related to, Issuance or Enforcement of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Orders," 46 ALR 5th 793.
The Right to Die, 3d ed., by Alan Meisel. 2 vols. Aspen, loose-leaf.