Category Archives: New York

On February 24, 2010, the Senate of the State of New York passed (S.3164/A.7729), The Family Health Care Decisions Act (the “FHCDA”). The New York Assembly passed the bill in January.  This important piece of legislation allowing for surrogates to make health care decisions in certain circumstances has been in the works since 1993.  NY Governor David A. Paterson applauded the passage of the FHCDA.

Consumers and health care providers have historically had to rely on a patchwork of common law decisions and the Health Care Proxy and Do-Not-Resuscitate laws to address personal health care decisions. New York common law (in a line of well know court decisions) provides that life-sustaining treatment cannot be withdrawn or withheld, unless clear and convincing evidence of the patient’s wishes can be produced. An advance directive could serve as that evidence but way too often patients have not completed one when they were competent.

The FHCDA now provides a framework for health care decisions to be made by surrogates. By doing so, it reduces the uncertainty and need for judicial determination in many situations in which current law did not provide a clear way for a health care decision to be made for an incompetent patient.

You can find a copy of (S.3164/A.7729), The Family Health Care Decisions Act at http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A07729%09%09&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Votes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y