What is a health care proxy form?

A health care proxy form is a form used to give a chosen individual authorization to make health care decisions on behalf of another individual, called the principal, Nolo says. This helps ensure that a trusted individual can make decisions when the principal is otherwise unable to.

A health care proxy allows someone to ensure medical decisions are made by a trusted individual in the event he becomes incapacitated and otherwise unable to make the decisions on his own, Nolo says. Without a health care proxy in place, the medical decisions on behalf of an incapacitated person could be made by doctors, estranged family members or even a judge.