Does my child need a health care proxy?

In Massachusetts, if your child is age 18 or older, then they are now a legal adult. This means that you, as their parent, don’t have the same access and decision making control over your child’s health care decisions or medical treatment. For parents watching their kids go off to college, this can be a particularly troubling thought.

Fortunately, you can protect your adult child by having them complete a health care proxy, which legally authorized you to make medical decisions on their behalf if they are unable to make such decisions themselves. 

A proper health care proxy should also include a HIPAA release inside it. Your child may want to insert advanced medical directive language inside the health care proxy as a guideline as well (since a “living will” is not legally binding in Massachusetts), but the HIPAA release is the more important part for you as a parent to make sure you have full access to their health information. To be clear, HIPAA laws consider a minor’s parent to be the minor’s personal representative so long as the child is a minor, but once that child is a legal adult, then that legal assumption/rule no longer applies - which is why it is so important for your child to have a health care proxy completed as soon as possible.

Have any questions about getting a health care proxy for your child? Give me a call at 781 202 6368 or email me at jlento@perennialtrust.com to schedule your free personal consultation.

I’m always happy to help,

Joseph M. Lento, J.D.

Your Local Estate Planning Attorney

Perennial Estate Planning

477 Main Street

Stoneham, MA 02180