My mother has a healthcare proxy in place and is currently living in a nursing home in Massachusetts. She suffers from dementia and often has bad days where she does not recognize her family. She named her sister as her healthcare agent when she had the proxy drafted years ago and her sister, my aunt, is still alive and acting as agent. The problem is that my aunt has told us that she's not sure she would ever be able to "unplug" my mother, as she puts it, if it ever came to that. I hope this will never become an issue, but my mother always told us that she would not want to be kept alive by artificial means and, I believe, she has that in her proxy. I know it's too late to do a new proxy (right?) and my mom named our deceased father as her alternated agent. So what will happen if my mother ever has a stroke or something like that and is placed on life support? Is it possible to remove a healthcare agent under Massachusetts law? Thank you for your time.
Submitted by KarenWH on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 11:05
Posted in
Removing healthcare agent under MA law
Yes, unless your mother has days when she is lucid and able to understand the nature of the document and what it means, it may be too late to execute a new healthcare proxy. I encourage you to talk to an elder law attorney about that issue and, perhaps, get her opinion about you mom's competence. However, in the worst case scenario that you describe, it is possible to challenge a healthcare proxy and/or remove the healthcare agent. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 201D, Section 17, an interested party can challenge a healthcare proxy under certain specified conditions, including in situations where the agent's decisions are not in accordance with with the principal's wishes. See Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 201D, Section 5. Again, an attorney can help you with the removal of the agent and, before that, evaluate your chances of success. Hope that helps, and good luck with your mother.