New York Health Care Proxy: Who Decides If Your Parent Can't (2026)

What your agent can decide^[1][2]

• Unless you limit it, your agent can make any health care decision you could make, including accepting, choosing between, or refusing treatment, and starting or stopping life-sustaining treatment.

• Hospitals, nursing homes, doctors and other providers must give your agent the same information they'd give you and honor the agent's decisions as if they were yours.

• The agent must follow your wishes and your moral and religious beliefs. If your wishes aren't known, the agent must act in your best interest.

• The feeding tube rule: your agent can only decide about artificial nutrition and hydration (a feeding tube or IV) if they reasonably know your wishes about it. Tell them, or write it on the form.

• The agent can also make organ, eye and tissue donation decisions after death, as noted on the form.

• It does not let the agent make financial decisions.

When it kicks in, and when it doesn't^[1][2]

The proxy only takes effect once your doctor determines you can't make health care decisions yourself. As long as you can decide, you decide, and no treatment can be given or stopped over your objection. If you get your ability back (say, after anesthesia), the agent's authority stops.

How to fill out the New York form^[1]

1. Get the free DOH-1430 form from the NYS Department of Health. It's available in English and 12 other languages. You don't have to use this exact form, but it's the standard one.

2. Item 1: your agent's name, home address and phone.

3. Item 2 (optional): an alternate agent, in case the first one is unavailable, unable or unwilling.

4. Item 3 (optional): an expiration date or condition. Leave it blank and the proxy lasts indefinitely.

5. Item 4 (optional): instructions or limits. If you want to give broad authority, DOH suggests writing: "I have discussed my wishes with my health care agent and alternate and they know my wishes including those about artificial nutrition and hydration."

6. Item 5: sign and date it and add your address. If you can't sign, someone can sign for you in your presence.

7. Item 6 (optional): organ, eye and tissue donation wishes.

8. Item 7: two witnesses, both 18 or older, sign. Neither your agent nor your alternate can be a witness.

Who you can (and can't) name^[1]

Any adult 18 or older, such as a family member or close friend. Talk to them first and make sure they're willing. Two catches:

• If you name a doctor, they have to choose between being your agent and being your attending doctor.

• If you live in or are a patient at a hospital, nursing home or mental hygiene facility, there are special limits on naming someone who works there. Ask the staff.

Changing or canceling it^[1]

• Cancel it anytime by telling your agent or your provider, out loud or in writing, or just fill out a new form.

• If your spouse is your agent and you divorce or legally separate, the appointment is automatically canceled unless you note on the form that you want them to stay.

Where to keep it^[1][3]

Give copies to your agent, your doctor, your attorney and close family. Keep one in your wallet or with your papers, never somewhere no one can get to, like a safe deposit box. Bring a copy to any hospital admission, even for minor or outpatient surgery.

What happens if there's no health care proxy^[2]

In a hospital, nursing home or hospice, if a patient can't decide and has no proxy, a court-appointed guardian or the highest-priority person on New York's surrogate list decides:

1. Spouse (if not legally separated) or domestic partner

2. An adult son or daughter

3. A parent

4. An adult brother or sister

5. A close friend (an adult friend or relative who kept regular contact, knows the patient's health and beliefs, and gives the doctor a signed statement saying so)

Surrogates have tighter limits than an agent. For example, they can refuse life-sustaining treatment only in specific situations, such as an expected death within six months or permanent unconsciousness, and some decisions need an ethics review committee's approval. If adult children disagree, the facility tries to settle it informally and can bring in its ethics review committee, whose advice is usually non-binding. A proxy avoids all of this, which is why DOH says everyone over 18 should have one. ^[2][3]

Health care proxy vs. living will^[1][2]

A living will is written instructions about specific treatments. A health care proxy names a person who can apply your wishes to situations you couldn't predict. In New York you can put living-will style instructions right on the proxy form (Item 4), or keep them in a separate document.

DNR and MOLST: the doctor's orders, not the family's form^[2]

A proxy names a decision maker. A DNR (do not resuscitate) order is a medical order a doctor writes.

• At home, the doctor uses DOH-3474 (Nonhospital Order Not to Resuscitate) or DOH-5003 (MOLST, Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), which can also include a do-not-intubate order. EMS, home care agencies and hospices must honor them.

• A DNR written in the hospital or nursing home may not apply at home. Before discharge, ask for a nonhospital DNR or MOLST. See our hospital discharge rights guide.

• A DNR only covers CPR. "Do not resuscitate" doesn't mean "do not treat," and comfort care should always be offered.

Keep exploring

• NY Article 81 Guardianship vs Power of Attorney
• Hospital discharge rights in NY
• Does Medicare pay for hospice?
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• The 72-Hour Discharge (book)
• The Dementia Decision (book)