healthcare proxy
Meaning of healthcare proxy: The person chosen in advance to speak for a patient who can no longer speak, and the document that appoints them.
Definition of healthcare proxy
A healthcare proxy is a legal document that names another person to make medical decisions on someone's behalf if that person becomes unable to decide. The word is also used for the named person. The authority takes effect only once a clinician judges that capacity to decide has been lost, and it lapses again if capacity returns.
How is it different from a living will?
| Document | What it does |
|---|---|
| Healthcare proxy | Names a person to decide, without listing decisions in advance |
| Living will | Records specific wishes about treatments, with no one appointed to interpret them |
| Combined advance directive | Does both in a single form |
| Power of attorney for finances | Covers money and property only, not medical care |
The two medical forms answer different questions, which is why an advance directive often contains both. A list of wishes cannot anticipate every situation, and a named person cannot know wishes that were never discussed.
When does it take effect?
Not on admission, and not because a patient is old or seriously ill. It becomes active only when capacity is lost, meaning the person can no longer take in the relevant information, weigh it and communicate a choice. Capacity is judged for the decision in front of the patient, so someone may be unable to consent to major surgery yet still able to decide about a simple test. If capacity returns, the patient resumes deciding and the proxy steps back.
What is the proxy expected to do?
The standard is substituted judgment: to decide as the patient would have decided, based on what that person said, valued and lived by, rather than on what the proxy would choose. Where wishes were never expressed, the fallback is what serves the patient's best interests. A proxy can consent to and refuse treatment, ask for a second opinion, and see the medical record to the extent needed. Rules differ between states and countries, including who may serve, how the document is witnessed, and what the role is called: healthcare agent, healthcare representative and medical power of attorney all describe the same idea. Any healthcare provider asked to act on the document generally requires a copy in the record.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The chart documented a healthcare proxy naming the patient's sister as the decision maker.
Good to know
A healthcare proxy names a decision maker but records no specific instructions, which is why it is often paired with a living will; the requirements and even the name of the role differ between states and countries.
Word origin
Where “healthcare proxy” comes from
Proxy is a contracted form of procuracy, from the Latin procurare, meaning to take care of on behalf of another.