§ 2994-E — Decisions about life-sustaining treatment for minor patients

§ 2994-e. Decisions about life-sustaining treatment for minor\npatients. 1. Authority of parent or guardian. The parent or guardian of\na minor patient shall have the authority to make decisions about\nlife-sustaining treatment, including decisions to withhold or withdraw\nsuch treatment, subject to the provisions of this section and\nsubdivision five of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this\narticle.\n 2. Decision-making standards and procedures for minor patient. (a) The\nparent or guardian of a minor patient shall make decisions in accordance\nwith the minor's best interests, consistent with the standards set forth\nin subdivision four of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this\narticle, taking into account the minor's wishes as appropriate under the\ncircumstances.\n (b) An attending practitioner, in consultation with a minor's parent\nor guardian, shall determine whether a minor patient has decision-making\ncapacity for a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining\ntreatment. If the minor has such capacity, a parent's or guardian's\ndecision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment for the minor\nmay not be implemented without the minor's consent.\n (c) Where a parent or guardian of a minor patient has made a decision\nto withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment and an attending\npractitioner has reason to believe that the minor patient has a parent\nor guardian who has not been informed of the decision, including a\nnon-custodial parent or guardian, an attending practitioner or someone\nacting on his or her behalf, shall make reasonable efforts to determine\nif the uninformed parent or guardian has maintained substantial and\ncontinuous contact with the minor and, if so, shall make diligent\nefforts to notify that parent or guardian prior to implementing the\ndecision.\n 3. Decision-making standards and procedures for emancipated minor\npatient. (a) If an attending practitioner determines that a patient is\nan emancipated minor patient with decision-making capacity and documents\nthe basis for that determination in the patient's medical record, the\npatient shall have the authority to decide about life-sustaining\ntreatment. That authority shall include a decision to withhold or\nwithdraw life-sustaining treatment if an attending practitioner and the\nethics review committee determine that the decision accords with the\nstandards for surrogate decisions for adults, and the ethics review\ncommittee approves the decision.\n (b) If the hospital can with reasonable efforts ascertain the identity\nof the parents or guardian of an emancipated minor patient and obtain\nsuch parents' or guardian's contact information, the hospital shall\nnotify such persons, and document such notification in the patient's\nmedical record, prior to withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining\ntreatment pursuant to this subdivision.\n