New York A 4774: Restores medical futility as a basis for DNR

Bill Text

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A04774 Summary:

BILL NOA04774 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS S01965

&nbsp

SPONSORDinowitz

&nbsp

COSPNSR

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

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Amd §§2994-d & 2994-g, Pub Health L; amd §1750-b, SCPA

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Restores medical futility as a basis for DNR.

Go to top A04774 Actions:

BILL NOA04774 

&nbsp

02/06/2025referred to health

01/07/2026referred to health

Go to topA04774 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA04774 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA04774 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 4774

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 February 6, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ -- read once and referred to the Commit-
 tee on Health

 AN ACT to amend the public health law and the surrogate's court proce-
 dure act, in relation to restoring medical futility as a basis for
 both surrogate consent to a do not resuscitate order and for a do not
 resuscitate order for a patient without a surrogate

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. Legislative findings. Under New York's former do not resus-
 2 citate (hereinafter "DNR") law, article 29-B of the public health law, a
 3 surrogate could consent to a DNR order if the patient met any one of
 4 four clinical criteria, one of which was a finding by two physicians
 5 that resuscitation was "medically futile," which was defined to mean
 6 that resuscitation "will be unsuccessful in restoring cardiac and
 7 respiratory function or that the patient will experience repeated arrest
 8 in a short time period before death occurs." The former DNR law also
 9 allowed a DNR order to be entered for a patient who did not have a
 10 surrogate on that basis. That law applied to all patients, including
 11 developmentally disabled patients.
 12 In 2010, the former DNR law was superseded by the Family Health Care
 13 Decisions Act (hereinafter "FHCDA") which established standards for the
 14 withdrawal or withholding of a broad range of life-sustaining treat-
 15 ments. Accordingly, the FHCDA did not have a standard specifically
 16 relating to medically futile resuscitation. Similarly, Surrogate's Court
 17 Procedure Act (hereinafter "SCPA") §1750-b does not have a standard
 18 specifically relating to medically futile resuscitation for develop-
 19 mentally disabled patients.
 20 The legislature finds that the broader FHCDA and SCPA §1750-b stand-
 21 ards are difficult to apply to situations in which resuscitation would
 22 be medically futile. Accordingly, this bill restores the former DNR

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD03416-02-5

 A. 4774 2

 1 law's medical futility standard as an alternative basis for writing a
 2 DNR order under the FHCDA and under SCPA §1750-b.
 3 § 2. Subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of
 4 section 2994-d of the public health law, as amended by chapter 708 of
 5 the laws of 2019, are amended and a new subparagraph (iii) is added to
 6 read as follows:
 7 (i) Treatment would be an extraordinary burden to the patient and an
 8 attending practitioner determines, with the independent concurrence of
 9 another physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, that, to a
 10 reasonable degree of medical certainty and in accord with accepted
 11 medical standards, (A) the patient has an illness or injury which can be
 12 expected to cause death within six months, whether or not treatment is
 13 provided; or (B) the patient is permanently unconscious; [or]
 14 (ii) The provision of treatment would involve such pain, suffering or
 15 other burden that it would reasonably be deemed inhumane or extraor-
 16 dinarily burdensome under the circumstances and the patient has an irre-
 17 versible or incurable condition, as determined by an attending practi-
 18 tioner with the independent concurrence of another physician, nurse
 19 practitioner or physician assistant to a reasonable degree of medical
 20 certainty and in accord with accepted medical standards[.]; or
 21 (iii) With respect to a decision to enter an order not to resuscitate,
 22 an attending physician determines, with the independent con