FAMILY HEALTH CARE DECISIONS ACT (FHCDA)

A.5406B (Gottfried), June 9, 2006

The New York State Right to Life Committee continues to oppose the Family Health Care Decisions Act (FHCDA), unless our critical amendments are incorporated into the bill to prevent hospitals from denying life-saving treatment against the will of patients and their families.

Increasingly, the “quality of life” ethic has become a justification for health care facilities’ withdrawing or denying treatment, or even food and water, regardless of the wishes of patients or families.  This new ethic is permeating the health care community and our culture.  Health care providers and hospitals have in many cases adopted so-called “futility policies.”  “Futility” used to mean the treatment would not work to save the patient’s life (medical or “physiological” futility).  Now “futility” often means the treatment would work, but in the provider’s view the patient is “better off” dead so the treatment is therefore bad or “qualitatively“ futile.  Health care providers should provide treatment based on whether the treatment will work physiologically – not based on judgments of a patient’s perceived “quality of life” and the doctor’s value judgment of whether or not the patient’s life is worth living.

For over a decade, New York State Right to Life has made it a priority to ensure that patients and families who want medically appropriate treatment are not denied it against their will.  When a health care facility wants to withhold treatment, food, or fluids against the will of the patient and that denial, in reasonable medical judgment, would result in the patient’s death, our protective amendments would allow the patient’s transfer to another health care provider willing to respect the patient/family choice for life.  Most critically, these amendments would require such treatment, food, and fluids to be provided until the transfer is completed.

FHCDA fully ensures that a surrogate’s decision to reject life-sustaining care is carried out.  If the bill is really meant to respect families’ decisions, then the bill must also protect patients and family members by honoring their decisions for life-sustaining and life-saving treatment completely.  All “loopholes” in the law now allowing withholding of treatment involuntarily must be removed.

Respect for patient autonomy means equal respect when the choice of a patient or a duly designated surrogate is for life.  Please oppose the Family Health Care Decisions Act until assured by the New York State Right to Life Committee that acceptable amendments have been included to protect against involuntary euthanasia.