New York Bill Would Give Family Members More Power to Make Decisions for Incapacitated Loved Ones

The following is taken from an editorial that appeared in the New York Times regarding the New York State Legislature’s action on the Family Health Care Decisions Act:

First proposed 18 years and three governors ago by a nonpartisan commission, it has remained stalled in the dispiriting byplay between the State Assembly and the State Senate ever since. As a result, New York lags most other states in this important area.

Under a 1988 court ruling, no one has the authority to give consent or object to life-sustaining treatment for incapacitated patients, except for the minority who have provided clear evidence of their wishes, like a living will, or assigned those decisions in advance to someone. Family members typically cannot review medical records or sign their loved one into a hospice. Invasive and ultimately fruitless treatments are frequently extended, while treatments that could make a dying patient more comfortable are denied.

The act would replace this insensitive regime with a sound process for family members and others close to the incapacitated patient to make decisions in consultation with doctors and subject to carefully drawn standards and safeguards.

The Assembly has passed the bill already, and the Senate Codes Committee is expected to approve it on Tuesday. All that would remain would be for the full Senate to vote its approval and for the governor to sign it. Senate leaders should hold that vote without delay. Eighteen years of procrastination is enough.

Editorial, Living and Dying in Albany, NY Times, Feb. 4, 2010, at A24.