What's happening
This bill exempts hospitals and providers from following surrogates' orders for life-sustaining treatment if acting on a patient’s prior decision, while preserving surrogate rights to ethics or judicial review.
Why it matters
Clarifies when hospitals/providers can override a surrogate’s order. The bill allows hospitals or providers to follow a patient’s prior decision—even if a surrogate later requests life-sustaining treatment—helping ensure that the patient’s own documented wishes take precedence.
Addresses ethical and legal disputes. By preserving the surrogate’s right to seek review by an ethics committee or the courts, the bill maintains a process for addressing disagreements, rather than granting absolute authority to either the surrogate or the hospital.
Reduces potential for forced treatment against a patient’s wishes. This amendment could prevent situations where hospitals are compelled to provide interventions that the patient previously declined, reducing moral distress for providers and respecting patient autonomy.
May impact end-of-life care planning. The bill underscores the importance for individuals to clearly document their treatment preferences, since those instructions could override surrogate decisions in critical care situations.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Hospitals and individual health care providers
The bill would exempt them from following a surrogate's demand for life-sustaining treatment pending transfer or judicial review when they are carrying out a patient's decision under the cited provision of law.
Health care surrogates
They would retain the right to request ethics committee review or judicial review when a provider invokes this exception to their treatment directive.
Patients whose decisions are being carried out
The bill would allow providers to follow their decisions under the cited provision despite a surrogate's demand for life-sustaining treatment.
Hospital ethics committees
They could receive surrogate requests to review cases in which providers follow a patient's decision rather than the surrogate's treatment directive.
Headline styles
Resolve Surrogate Care Disputes
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to codes
- Reported referred to codes
- Referred to health
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4019
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. PRETLOW, GOTTFRIED -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to disputes between a surrogate and a hospital or individual health care provider
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 2994-f of the public health law, as added by chapter 8 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or subdivision one of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-q of this article, if a surrogate directs the provision of life-sustaining treatment, the denial of which in reasonable medical judgment would be likely to result in the death of the patient, a hospital or individual health care provider that does not wish to provide such treatment shall nonetheless comply with the surrogate's decision pending either transfer of the patient to a willing hospital or individual health care provider, or judicial review in accordance with section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-r of this article. This requirement shall not apply when the hospital or individual health care provider is carrying out a patient's decision made pursuant to subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision three of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this article; provided that the surrogate in such instance retains the right to request ethics committee review of the case pursuant to section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-m of this article, or judicial review in accordance with section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-r of this article.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08659-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.