Bill > S1213

This bill, concerning health care proxies, aims to strengthen protections for individuals who have become incapacitated by establishing new criteria for who can serve as a health care agent, meaning the person designated to make medical decisions on behalf of another. Specifically, it prohibits individuals from being appointed as a health care agent if they are currently under investigation or facing criminal charges for certain violent crimes that resulted in serious bodily injury to the principal (the person for whom the proxy is made), or if they are being investigated for or are subject to charges related to neglect of an incapacitated principal. The bill also adds a provision that an agent can be removed if they are found to be wholly or partly responsible for the principal's incapacity, or if they are acting in bad faith, and requires the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health and relevant professional boards to create regulations to enforce these changes.