NEWS FROM
Assembly Health Committee Chair
Richard N. Gottfried
822 Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248 – Tel: 518-455-4941
GottfrR@assembly.state.ny.us
Contact: For Immediate Release:
Ryan Streeter 518-455-4941 (office) Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Family Health Care Decisions Act
Approved after 17-Year Struggle
Each year, about 75,000 people die in a New York hospital without a health care proxy and lacking the ability to make their own health care decisions. The State Senate today joined the Assembly in passing the Family Health Care Decisions Act, to enable a patient’s family member to make health care decisions when the patient is not able to do so. The bill, sponsored by Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried and Senate Health Committee Chair Thomas K. Duane, passed the Senate today by a vote of 55 to 3. It passed the Assembly in January 132 to 4. The bill now goes to Governor David Paterson, who is expected to sign it into law.
“It has taken 17 years of tortuous struggle to get to this day,” said a jubilant Assembly Member Gottfried. ”It has been a long effort to overcome the technical, ethical, religious, and political hurdles of this issue.” Mr. Gottfried first introduced the bill, A. 7729-D, in 1993, when it was submitted by the Governor’s Task Force on Life and the Law.
“New York is one of two states whose laws give no legal authority to a spouse, domestic partner, or other family member to make health care decisions when the patient lacks the capacity to make those decisions and did not sign a health care proxy,” said Gottfried. ”And because family members have no decision-making role, Federal law makes it difficult for doctors to even share medical information with them to get their advice.”
A decision to place a patient in hospice care is one of those decisions. If the patient is one of the 75% of the population with no signed health care proxy, and did not previously provide ‘clear and convincing evidence’ of his or her wishes, in New York there is no legal way to get that patient into hospice care.
“Incapacitated patients are being denied appropriate treatment, while others are subjected to burdensome treatments that violate their wishes, values, or religious beliefs,” Gottfried added.
The bill is supported by:
1199/SEIU
AARP
Alzheimer’s Association
American Cancer Society
American College of Physicians of NY
Association of the Bar of the City of NY
Cerebral Palsy Association of NYS
Consumers Union
Continuing Care Leadership Coalition
Empire State Pride Agenda
Excellus BlueCross/BlueShield
Family Planning Advocates of NY
Friends Relatives of the Institutionalized Aging (FRIA) of NY
Gay Men’s Health Crisis
Greater NY Hospital Association
Healthcare Association of NYS
Hospice and Palliative Care Association of NYS
Interagency Council of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities Agencies
Medical Society of the State of NY
Mental Health Association of NYS
NY Academy of Medicine
NY Assoc. of Homes and Services for the Aging
NY Civil Liberties Union
NYS Academy of Family Physicians
NYS Bar Association
NYS Breast Cancer Network
NYS Family Decisions Coalition
NYS Health Facilities Association
NYS Nurses Association
NYS Right to Life Committee
Statewide Senior Action Council
Visiting Nurse Service of NY
Westchester End-of-Life Coalition
Women’s Bar Association of NY