N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-E – Decisions about life-sustaining treatment for minor patients
§ 2994-e. Decisions about life-sustaining treatment for minor patients. 1. Authority of parent or guardian. The parent or guardian of a minor patient shall have the authority to make decisions about life-sustaining treatment, including decisions to withhold or withdraw such treatment, subject to the provisions of this section and subdivision five of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this article.
Terms Used In N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-E
- Attending practitioner: means a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, selected by or assigned to a patient pursuant to hospital policy, who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Decision-making capacity: means the ability to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of proposed health care, including the benefits and risks of and alternatives to proposed health care, and to reach an informed decision. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Emancipated minor patient: means a minor patient who is the parent of a child, or who is sixteen years of age or older and living independently from his or her parents or guardian. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Ethics review committee: means the interdisciplinary committee established in accordance with the requirements of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-m of this article. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- guardian: means a health care guardian or a legal guardian of the person of a minor. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Hospital: means a general hospital, a residential health care facility, or hospice. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Life-sustaining treatment: means any medical treatment or procedure without which the patient will die within a relatively short time, as determined by an attending physician to a reasonable degree of medical certainty. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Minor: means any person who is not an adult. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Patient: means a person admitted to a hospital. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
- Surrogate: means the person selected to make a health care decision on behalf of a patient pursuant to section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this article. See N.Y. Public Health Law 2994-A
2. Decision-making standards and procedures for minor patient. (a) The parent or guardian of a minor patient shall make decisions in accordance with the minor's best interests, consistent with the standards set forth in subdivision four of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this article, taking into account the minor's wishes as appropriate under the circumstances.
(b) An attending practitioner, in consultation with a minor's parent or guardian, shall determine whether a minor patient has decision-making capacity for a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment. If the minor has such capacity, a parent's or guardian's decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment for the minor may not be implemented without the minor's consent.
(c) Where a parent or guardian of a minor patient has made a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment and an attending practitioner has reason to believe that the minor patient has a parent or guardian who has not been informed of the decision, including a non-custodial parent or guardian, an attending practitioner or someone acting on his or her behalf, shall make reasonable efforts to determine if the uninformed parent or guardian has maintained substantial and continuous contact with the minor and, if so, shall make diligent efforts to notify that parent or guardian prior to implementing the decision.
3. Decision-making standards and procedures for emancipated minor patient. (a) If an attending practitioner determines that a patient is an emancipated minor patient with decision-making capacity, the patient shall have the authority to decide about life-sustaining treatment. Such authority shall include a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment if an attending practitioner and the ethics review committee determine that the decision accords with the standards for surrogate decisions for adults, and the ethics review committee approves the decision.
(b) If the hospital can with reasonable efforts ascertain the identity of the parents or guardian of an emancipated minor patient, the hospital shall notify such persons prior to withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment pursuant to this subdivision.