Mississippi Healthcare Power of Attorney Requirements
Mississippi doesn't have a standalone document called a Medical Power of Attorney at all.
Introduction
Mississippi doesn't have a standalone document called a Medical Power of Attorney at all. Instead, the power to name a health care agent lives inside Part 1 of one combined form, the Advance Health Care Directive, created by the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act (Mississippi Code Sections 41-41-201 through 41-41-229). Signing that form lets you name someone you trust, called an agent, to make health care decisions for you if you are ever unable to make them yourself. The same combined form's Part 2 lets you separately write down your own treatment wishes, but this page covers only the agent-designation part. Unlike some states, Mississippi does not force your agent's authority to wait on a physician's incapacity determination with no alternative. By default, your agent can only start deciding for you once your primary physician determines you are unable to decide for yourself, but the statutory form lets you check a box to make your agent's authority begin immediately instead, even while you are still capable of deciding for yourself. Mississippi gives you two ways to make the document legally valid: sign it in front of two qualified witnesses, or sign it before a notary public. There is no Mississippi registry to file the document with, so you keep the signed original and give copies to your physician, your agent, and any health care institution treating you.
Key Things to Know
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Mississippi has no stand-alone Medical Power of Attorney document; what you sign is Part 1 of one combined Advance Health Care Directive, whose Part 2 separately covers your own treatment instructions. Part 1 is what lets you name a trusted adult, your agent, to make health care decisions for you if you become unable to make them yourself.
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By default, your agent's authority begins only after your primary physician determines you cannot make your own health care decisions (Mississippi Code Section 41-41-205(5)), but you can mark the statutory form to make your agent's authority begin immediately instead.
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Unless you limit it, your agent can make any health care decision you could make yourself, including consenting to, refusing, or withdrawing treatment, and directing artificial nutrition and hydration.
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Unless that person is related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, an owner, operator, or employee of the residential long-term health care institution where you live cannot be your agent (Section 41-41-205(2)). Mississippi does not generally bar your own treating physician from serving as your agent outside that long-term-care setting.
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You can sign in front of two qualified witnesses, or sign before a notary public instead. If you use witnesses, neither may be a health care provider, a facility employee, or your agent, and at least one of the two must also not be related to you or entitled to any part of your estate.
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Revoking your agent's designation specifically requires a signed writing or personally telling your supervising health care provider. Revoking any other part of your directive can be done at any time and by any means that shows your intent to revoke.
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If you name your spouse as agent and later divorce, annul the marriage, or legally separate, their authority ends automatically unless your decree or your document states otherwise.
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Mississippi has no central state registry for a Power of Attorney for Health Care. Keep the signed original and give copies to your physician, your agent, and any health care institution treating you.
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This is a different document from Mississippi's Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act (Mississippi Code Sections 87-3-101 through 87-3-113), which covers property and financial decisions, not health care.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Healthcare Power of Attorney in Mississippi, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Healthcare Power of Attorney guide walks through them.
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Mississippi Requirements for Healthcare Power of Attorney
The principal designates a primary health care agent, with full name and contact information, using Part 1 of the statutory Advance Health Care Directive form, as authorized by Section 41-41-205(2).
The statutory form lets the principal designate one or more alternate agents to serve if the primary agent is unwilling, unable, or not reasonably available to act, with each alternate identified by contact information (Section 41-41-209, Part 1).
The agent may make any health care decision the principal could have made while having capacity, including consenting to or refusing treatment, selecting or discharging providers and institutions, approving or disapproving diagnostic tests and programs of medication, and directing artificial nutrition and hydration (Section 41-41-205(2)).
Federal HIPAA regulations govern how the agent can be authorized to access the principal's protected health information once the document is in effect.
Unless the principal states otherwise, the agent's authority becomes effective only upon a determination that the principal lacks capacity, and ceases if the principal later regains capacity (Section 41-41-205(5)). This is a default rule, not a mandatory one: the statutory form's Part 1(3) lets the principal instead check a box making the agent's authority effective immediately upon signing.
Unless otherwise specified in a written advance health-care directive, a determination that the principal lacks or has recovered capacity must be made by the principal's primary physician (Section 41-41-205(6)); the primary physician who makes this determination must also promptly record it in the principal's health care record (Section 41-41-215(3)). Mississippi does not require two physicians to concur.
The principal may revoke the designation of an agent only by a signed writing or by personally informing the supervising health-care provider (Section 41-41-207(1)); this is a narrower rule than revocation of any other part of the directive, which may be done at any time and by any means that communicates an intent to revoke (Section 41-41-207(2)). A decree of annulment, divorce, dissolution of marriage, or legal separation automatically revokes a prior designation of a spouse as agent unless the decree or directive states otherwise (Section 41-41-207(4)).
The principal signs before at least two witnesses who each witness the signing or the principal's acknowledgment of the signature, or alternatively signs with the signature acknowledged before a notary public, with no witnesses required in that case (Section 41-41-205(2)). Neither witness may be a health care provider, an employee of a health care provider or facility, or the agent (Section 41-41-205(3)); at least one of the two witnesses, not necessarily both, must additionally not be related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, and not entitled to any part of the principal's estate (Section 41-41-205(4)).
The principal may sign and have the signature acknowledged before a notary public, in which case no witnesses are required at all (Section 41-41-205(2)(b)).
The agent's authority to make end-of-life decisions, including directing the provision, withholding, or withdrawal of artificial nutrition, hydration, and other health care, is established by the definition of 'health-care decision' (Section 41-41-203(h)) and the statutory form's authority and instructions sections (Section 41-41-209, Parts 1 and 2). Section 41-41-227 places outer limits on this authority: it does not authorize mercy killing, assisted suicide, or euthanasia, and death resulting from a properly authorized withholding or withdrawal of care is not, for any purpose, a suicide or homicide and does not impair a life insurance or annuity policy.
The statutory Advance Health Care Directive form includes its own Part 4, a Certificate of Authorization for Organ Donation, letting the principal authorize organ, tissue, and body donation directly within the same document (Section 41-41-209, Part 4).
Section 41-41-227(7) states that the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act does not apply to Sections 41-41-31 through 41-41-39 or Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63, which govern the performance of abortions, including on minors.
The agent must make health care decisions in accordance with the principal's individual instructions, if any, and other known wishes; if those are unknown, the agent must act in accordance with the principal's best interest, considering the principal's personal values to the extent known (Section 41-41-205(7)). An agent acting in good faith is not subject to civil or criminal liability, or discipline for unprofessional conduct, for health care decisions made in good faith (Section 41-41-219(2)).
The agent must follow the principal's individual instructions and other known wishes, and, where those are unknown, must act in the principal's best interest while considering the principal's personal values to the extent known to the agent (Section 41-41-205(7)).
An agent may not consent to the admission of the principal to a mental health-care institution unless the principal's written advance health-care directive expressly grants that authority (Section 41-41-227(5)); the Act also does not affect other statutes governing treatment of a person involuntarily committed to a mental health-care institution (Section 41-41-227(6)).
A written advance health-care directive may include the principal's nomination of a guardian of the person, for a court's consideration if guardianship proceedings are later commenced (Section 41-41-205(9)). The statutory form includes a section where the principal can nominate the named agent, and then the alternate agents in order, as guardian.
An advance health-care directive, including a power of attorney for health care, is valid under the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act if it complies with Sections 41-41-201 through 41-41-229, regardless of when or where it was executed or communicated (Section 41-41-205(10)).
Health care facilities and organizations that participate in Medicare and Medicaid must inform patients of their rights under state law to make advance directives, including a power of attorney for health care, and must document and honor valid directives consistent with state law.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Power of Attorney for Health Care in Mississippi is the part of your Advance Health Care Directive, governed by the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act (Mississippi Code Sections 41-41-201 through 41-41-229), that lets you name a trusted adult, your agent, to make health care decisions for you. It covers only health care decisions, such as consenting to or refusing treatment, and it is Part 1 of Mississippi's combined statutory directive form, alongside a separate part for your own treatment instructions.
A Power of Attorney for Health Care covers only health care decisions. Mississippi's Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act (Mississippi Code Sections 87-3-101 through 87-3-113) covers property and financial matters instead, and health care decisions fall entirely outside its scope under the separate Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act. The two documents also reach their immediate-versus-later-effect choice differently: the financial document is durable only if the principal writes specific durability words into the instrument itself, while the health care document defaults to taking effect only after a physician's incapacity determination unless the principal checks an immediate-effect box on the statutory form.
No. Mississippi does not have two separate documents. The Power of Attorney for Health Care is Part 1 of one combined statutory instrument called the Advance Health Care Directive (Mississippi Code Section 41-41-209). Part 2 of that same form lets you separately state your own treatment wishes. You can complete either part alone or both together in the same signed document.
Unless that person is related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, an owner, operator, or employee of the residential long-term health care institution where you are receiving care cannot serve as your agent (Mississippi Code Section 41-41-205(2)). Outside that long-term-care setting, Mississippi's power of attorney statute does not generally bar your own treating physician from being your agent.
No. Both witnesses must simply not be a health care provider, an employee of a health care provider or facility, or your named agent (Mississippi Code Section 41-41-205(3)). Only at least one of the two must also not be related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, and not entitled to any part of your estate (Section 41-41-205(4)).
You can revoke your agent's designation specifically only by a signed writing or by personally informing your supervising health care provider (Mississippi Code Section 41-41-207(1)). You can revoke any other part of your directive at any time and by any means that communicates your intent to revoke (Section 41-41-207(2)). Simply telling a family member does not revoke the agent designation itself.
No. Mississippi does not operate a state registry for advance health care directives or powers of attorney for health care. You keep the signed original yourself and give copies to your physician, your agent, and any health care institution where you receive care.