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H1736 • 2025

An Act relative to determining capacity and invoking the health care proxy

An Act relative to determining capacity and invoking the health care proxy

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Danielle W. Gregoire
Last action
2026-03-26
Official status
Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act relative to determining capacity and invoking the health care proxy

An Act relative to determining capacity and invoking the health care proxy By Representative Gregoire of Marlborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act relative to determining capacity and invoking the health care proxy By Representative Gregoire of Marlborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 1736) of Danielle W.
  • Gregoire relative to health care proxies.
  • The Judiciary.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-26 House

    Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)

  2. 2025-10-14 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 04/22/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-2

  3. 2025-04-18 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 04/22/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-2

  4. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on The Judiciary

  5. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

  6. House

    Reported by committee to Clerk’s Office for processing, will accompany a study order

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to determining capacity and invoking the health care proxy
By Representative Gregoire of Marlborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1736) of Danielle W. Gregoire relative to health care proxies. The Judiciary.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
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Bill H.1736

SECTION 1. Section 1 of chapter 201D of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out in its entirety the definition of “Attending physician” and inserting in place thereof the following definition:—

''Attending health care provider'', the physician, nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialist selected by or assigned to a patient, who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient, in whatever setting medical diagnosis or treatment is rendered. Where more than one physician, nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialist shares such responsibility, any such physician, nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialist may act as the attending health care provider.

SECTION 2. Section 5 of chapter 201D, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “physician”, in line 23, the following:—

, nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialist

SECTION 3. Section 6 of chapter 201D, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the words “attending physician”, in lines 4 through 5, 7, 11, 12 through 13, and 36, each time they appear, and inserting in place thereof the following:—

attending health care provider

SECTION 4. Said section 6 of said chapter 201D is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “physician”, in line 17, the following:—

, nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialist

SECTION 5. Section 7 of chapter 201D, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “physician”, in lines 11 and 14, each time it appears, the following:—

, nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialist

SECTION 6. Said section 7 of said chapter 201D is hereby further amended by striking out the words “attending physician”, in lines 17 through 18, and inserting in place thereof the following:—

attending health care provider

SECTION 7. Section 13 of chapter 201D, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the words “attending physician”, in line 2, and inserting in place thereof the following:—

attending health care provider

SECTION 8. Section 14 of chapter 201D, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “physician”, in lines 2 through 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 13 through 14, each time it appears, the following:—

, nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialist

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