Lydia is a 45-year-old woman, who has been paralyzed for over six months due to a car accident. Since then, she can only communicate through nodding her head, and also has been on a ventilator for respiratory assistance and receiving tube feedings at Little Falls Hospital. Moreover, she was diagnosed and treated successfully for breast cancer before the accident. The medical staffs are uncertain as to whether she can understand what is going on to make any decisions about her life. An advance directive has been located however, a copy could not be found. Her physician, Dr. Pritchard, who has been taking care of her for the past 3 months, is not so optimistic about her recovery as her level of functioning was not improving significantly. Mr. Bevins, as her husband and her legal guardian believes that she would not want to live in those conditions. However, Lydia’s mother, Mrs. Redfield does not support his decisions and believes that her daughter should get a chance to recover and get better. Should the life sustaining support be withdrawn? …show more content…
There exist some decision-making laws that can help identify the person who may decide on behalf of a patient with no evidence of advance directives. The laws that may have impact on this case are the New York Health Care Proxy Law and the New York’s Family Health Care Decision Making Act (FHCDA). Both laws give power to the members of her family to make decisions for her as she lost decision-making capacity. However, under the New York’s Family Health Care Decision Making Act, Mr. Bevins as her spouse becomes the surrogate and therefore, should be the one able to make the final decision to either continue or withdraw the life-sustaining