June 15, 2010
STATE BAR ASSOCIATION’S HEALTH LAW SECTION
LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE RESOURCE TO GUIDE NEW YORKERS THROUGH THE FAMILY
HEALTH CARE DECISIONS ACT
New Info Center Provides the Public, Health Care
Professionals and Policymakers With Comprehensive Information About
Decision-Making for Patients Who Become
Incapacitated
The Health Law Section of the New York State Bar Association has
launched an informative resource center on the State Bar’s website
designed to help New Yorkers understand new rules allowing family
members to make critical health care and end-of-life decisions for
patients who are unable to make their wishes known. The Family Health
Care Decisions Act Information Center provides the public, health care
professionals, advocates and lawmakers with up-to-date information
regarding the new Family Health Care Decisions Act (FHCDA) that took
effect on June 1, 2010.
The FHCDA Information Center website, located at www.nysba.org/fhcda, contains a wealth of important
information, including the law’s complete text, summaries of its
key provisions, articles covering a wide variety of related topics, and
materials from the New York State Department of Health. A frequently
asked questions (FAQ) section edited by knowledgeable attorneys and
health care professionals will provide guidance about the new law.
The website also will include a list serve to promote the exchange of
information about the FHCDA.
“This new Information Center will be a critically important
resource that can help families make informed medical decisions about
the proper care of their loved ones,” said State Bar Association
President Stephen P. Younger (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP of
New York City). “I want to thank the members of the Health Law
Section, including past chairs Robert Swidler and Ed Kornreich, for
their outstanding work in creating such an invaluable tool and helping
facilitate the swift implementation of this new law.”
The FHCDA, recently signed by Governor Paterson, establishes
guidelines that give families and legal guardians, in consultation with
medical professionals, the legal right to make critical health care and
end-of-life decisions for their loved ones who are incapacitated. It
also contains many safeguards to protect the patient's interests,
including correcting provisions in New York law that deny family members
the legal authority to consent or object to medical treatment for a
patient who lacks decision-making capacity.
Under prior New York law, life-sustaining treatment could be
withdrawn or withheld only if the patient signed a health care proxy or
left “clear and convincing evidence” of wishes to forego
treatment. Without these, no one – not the patient's family,
not the patient's physician, not even a court – had the authority
to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment for the patient. Since
most people never sign a proxy or leave this kind of evidence, some
incapacitated patients were denied appropriate treatment, while others
were subjected to treatments that violate their wishes, values, or
religious beliefs.
Robert N. Swidler, Esq., is Editor of the FHCDA Information
Center. Mr. Swidler, who also is Editor of the State Bar’s
Health Law Journal, is General Counsel at Northeast Health in Troy,
NY.
The members of the Editorial Board of the new Information Center
are:
* Kathy Faber-Langendoen, MD, Medical Alumni Endowed Professor
of Bioethics and Professor of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University,
Syracuse;
* Jack P. Freer, MD, Professor of Medicine, University at
Buffalo and Medical Director, Ethics, Kaleida Health, Buffalo;
* Hon. Richard N. Gottfried, Chair, New York State Assembly
Health Committee;
* Jonathan Karmel, Esq., Attorney, New York State Department of
Health, Albany;
* Deborah Korzenik, Esq., Senior Associate General
Counsel, Continuum Health Partners, Inc.
* Tracy E. Miller, Esq., President, Health Policy
and Education Initiatives, LLC, and former Executive Director, New
York State Task Force on Life and the Law; and
* Salvatore J. Russo, Esq., Acting General Counsel, New York City
Health and Hospitals Corporation.
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The 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official
statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary
state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, State Bar programs
and activities have continuously served the public and improved the
justice system for more than 130 years.
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