Family Health Care Decisions Act - FHCD

The Family Health Care Decisions Act, Public Health Law,Article 29-CC, establishes the authority of a patient’s family member or close friend to make healthcare decisions for the patient in cases where a patient lacks decisional capacity and did not leave prior instructions or appoint a health care agent.

The family member or close friend’s decision making authority would include the authority to direct the withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining treatment when standards set forth in the statute are satisfied.

Before this legislation was enacted in 2010, if there was no health care agent appointed pursuant to a completed health care proxy form, there was usually no legal basis for a family member or friend to make health or end-of-life decisions on behalf of the patient who lacked decision making capacity. Instead, decisions to withdraw or withhold treatment could be made only where there was “clear and convincing evidence” of the patient’s wish to refuse such treatment. Moreover, when a patient lacked capacity, family members lacked clear authority even to consent to beneficial, desired treatment.

While health care providers routinely, and out of necessity, generally accepted treatment consent from a family member or close friend for beneficial treatment, there was only thin legal support in New York for that practice.

Applicability

The FHCDA applies to decisions in general hospitals, residential health care facilities and hospices. It does not apply to decisions for patients:

• Who have a health care agent or who have left prior treatment instructions
• Who have a court-appointed guardian
• for whom decisions about life-sustaining treatment may be made pursuant to OMH or OPWDD surrogate decision making regulations.

Determining Incapacity

The law sets forth a hospital-based process to determine that a patient lacks decisional capacity. In general, the process requires an initial determination by the attending physician, and may require a concurring determination by a “health or social services practitioner,” a broader category of professionals. Special credentials for professionals are required when determining that the patient lacks capacity as a result of mental retardation or mental illness. If the patient objects to the determination of incapacity, or to the choice of a surrogate, or to a surrogate’s decisions, the patient’s decisions prevails unless a court finds that the patient lacks capacity, or another legal basis exists for overriding the patient’s decision.

Decisions for Patients Who Lack Capacity

Who may act as a surrogate?

• an MHL Article 81 court-appointed guardian (if there is one);
• the spouse or domestic partner
• an adult child
• a parent
• a brother or sister
• a close friend (who could be another relative)

What rights does a surrogate have?

The surrogate has the right to receive medical information and medical records necessary to make informed decisions about the patient’s health care, including diagnosis, prognosis and risks and benefits of alternative treatment options.

What authority does a surrogate have?

The surrogate has the authority to make all health care decisions for the patient that the adult patient could make for himself or herself, subject to certain standards and limitations.

When doesn't a health are provider require surrogate consent?

Health care providers do not need a surrogate’s consent for a health care decision if the patient previously made the decision, either orally or in writing.

How does a surrogate decide?

The surrogate must decide about treatment based on the patient’s wishes, including the patient’s religious and moral beliefs, or, if the patient’s wishes are not reasonably known and cannot with reasonable diligence be ascertained, based on the best interests of the patient.

When does a surrogate decide to withhold or withdraw treatment?

Decisions can be made to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment if treatment would be an extraordinary burden to the patient and the patient is terminally ill or permanently unconscious, or if the patient has an irreversible or incurable condition and the treatment would involve such pain, suffering or other burden that it would reasonably be deemed inhumane or an extraordinary burden under the circumstances. Some such decisions require ethics committee review.

Do the same standards apply to a parent or guardian of a minor?

The parent or guardian of a minor patient can decide about life-sustaining treatment, in accord with the same standards that apply to surrogate decisions for adults. In addition, if a minor has the capacity to decide about life-sustaining treatment, the minor’s consent is required to withhold or to stop treatment.

What if there are no available surrogates?

The law establishes a procedure for making health care decisions, other than life-sustaining treatment decisions, for adult patients who have lost decision-making capacity and have no available family member or friend to act as a surrogate.