|
On March 16, 2010, Governor
Patterson signed into law the Family Health Care
Decisions Act (FHCDA) which represents a significant
change to the current law. The FHCDA
allows family members and others to make health care
decisions, including decisions about the withholding or
withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (including
artificial nutrition and hydration), for incapacitated
persons who have not prepared advance directives
regarding their wishes. The FHCDA only applies to
patients in hospital and nursing home settings. The
FHCDA does not apply to patients who have appointed a
health care agent pursuant to a health care proxy and
decisions made by a health care agent pursuant to the
proxy have priority over decisions by any other person.
The FHCDA also does not apply to persons with mental
retardation or developmental disability, or residents of
mental health facilities, where the decisions may be
made as otherwise provided by law.
The legislation establishes protocols for health care
practitioners to determine whether a patient has
decision-making capacity, the selection of a surrogate
from a list of individuals ranked in order of priority
(including family members, domestic partners, Article 81
guardians and close friends) and the circumstances
pursuant to which a surrogate may consent to the
withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.
DNR orders are included in the definition of
life-sustaining treatment. The legislation substantially
revises the existing DNR law and establishes a new
statute for non-hospital orders not to resuscitate.
The FHCDA and related legislation take effect on June 1,
2010. However, hospitals and nursing homes are allowed
to immediately adopt policies consistent with the FHCDA,
and carry out health care decisions in accordance with
such requirements. Policies governing informed consent,
DNR, withholding and/or withdrawal of life-sustaining
treatment and HIPAA will be affected and will require
revision.
*
·
*
Garfunkel Wild, P.C. can
assist you in complying with this new legislation.
Please contact the GW attorney with whom you regularly
consult for more information on this important change in
the law. For a PDF
of this Alert
Click Here |
