Do Not Resuscitate Orders: The Proposed Legislation and Report of the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. Second Edition

摘要

The report explains the social, ethical and legal underpinnings for many of the policies established by the Do Not Resuscitate legislation of 1987, focusing on the decision-making process. While some particulars of the process proposed by the Task Force are different in the law, the ethical premises and broad outlines of the procedures are not: the requirement that physicians seek the informed consent of adult patients with decision-making capacity; the process to determine which patients are capable of deciding about resuscitation, highlighting the ethical and legal significance of this critical dividing line; the authorization of family members and others close to the patient to decide about resuscitation, subject to certain constraints; and protection for those patients who are most vulnerable because they are incapable of deciding and have no family members or others to decide on their behalf. The report also discusses the dispute mediation process and the ways in which the process can be structured.