S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8395
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 7, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. BROUK -- (at request of the Office of Mental Health)
   -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
   the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the public health law, in  relation  to  orders  not  to
   resuscitate  and  decisions  regarding  life-sustaining  treatment and
   hospice care

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.    Section  2994-a  of the public health law is amended by
 adding a new subdivision 18-a to read as follows:
   18-A. "MENTAL HYGIENE HOSPITAL"  MEANS  ANY  HOSPITAL  AS  DEFINED  IN
 SUBDIVISION TEN OF SECTION 1.03 OF THE MENTAL HYGIENE LAW.
   §  2.  Subdivision  1-a of section 2994-b of the public health law, as
 added by chapter 742 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   1-a. This article shall also apply to decisions regarding  orders  not
 to  resuscitate,  LIFE-SUSTAINING  TREATMENT,  AND  HOSPICE  CARE  for a
 patient who lacks decision-making capacity in a MENTAL HYGIENE  hospital
 [as defined by section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law].
   § 3. Subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of
 section  2994-c  of  the public health law, as amended by chapter 708 of
 the laws of 2019, are amended to read as follows:
   (ii) In a general hospital OR MENTAL HYGIENE  HOSPITAL,  a  health  or
 social  services  practitioner  employed by or otherwise formally affil-
 iated with the facility must independently determine  whether  an  adult
 patient  lacks  decision-making  capacity  if  the  surrogate's decision
 concerns the withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining treatment.
   (iii) With respect to decisions regarding hospice care for  a  patient
 in  a  general  hospital, MENTAL HYGIENE HOSPITAL, or residential health
 care facility, the  health  or  social  services  practitioner  must  be
 employed  by or otherwise formally affiliated with the general hospital,
 MENTAL HYGIENE HOSPITAL, or residential health care facility.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10155-01-5
              

 S. 8395                             2
 
   § 4.  Paragraph (c) of subdivision 5 of section 2994-d of  the  public
 health law, as amended by chapter 708 of the laws of 2019, is amended to
 read as follows:
   (c) In a general hospital OR MENTAL HYGIENE HOSPITAL, if the attending
 practitioner  objects to a surrogate's decision, under subparagraph (ii)
 of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, to withdraw or withhold  nutrition
 and hydration provided by means of medical treatment, the decision shall
 not be implemented until the ethics review committee, including at least
 one  physician,  nurse  practitioner  or  physician assistant who is not
 directly responsible for the patient's care, or  a  court  of  competent
 jurisdiction,  reviews  the  decision  and  determines that it meets the
 standards set forth in this subdivision and  subdivision  four  of  this
 section.
   §  5.  Subparagraphs (i) and (iii) of paragraph (b) of subdivision 5-a
 of section 2994-g of the public health law, as amended by chapter 708 of
 the laws of 2019, are amended to read as follows:
   (i) in a general hospital OR MENTAL HYGIENE  HOSPITAL,  at  least  one
 other physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant designated by
 the  hospital  must independently determine that [he or she] SUCH PHYSI-
 CIAN, NURSE PRACTITIONER OR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT concurs that the  recom-
 mendation is consistent with such standards for surrogate decisions;
   (iii) in settings other than a general hospital, MENTAL HYGIENE HOSPI-
 TAL  or  residential  health  care facility, the medical director of the
 hospice, or a physician designated by the medical director,  must  inde-
 pendently  determine that [he or she] SUCH MEDICAL DIRECTOR OR PHYSICIAN
 concurs that the recommendation is medically appropriate and  consistent
 with  such  standards  for  surrogate  decisions;  provided  that if the
 medical director is  the  patient's  attending  physician,  a  different
 physician  designated by the hospice must make this independent determi-
 nation; and
   § 6. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 5-a of section 2994-g of the  public
 health law, as separately amended by chapters 622 and 708 of the laws of
 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   (c)  The  ethics  review  committee  of  the  general hospital, MENTAL
 HYGIENE HOSPITAL, residential health care facility or hospice, as appli-
 cable, including at least one physician, nurse practitioner or physician
 assistant who is not the patient's attending practitioner, or a court of
 competent jurisdiction, must review the decision and determine  that  it
 is consistent with such standards for surrogate decisions. This require-
 ment  shall not apply to decisions about routine medical treatment. Such
 decisions shall be governed by subdivision three of this section.
   § 7. The opening paragraph of subdivision 1 of section 2994-l  of  the
 public  health  law,  as  amended  by chapter 40 of the laws of 2024, is
 amended to read as follows:
   If a patient with an order to  withhold  or  withdraw  life-sustaining
 treatment is transferred from a mental hygiene facility to a hospital or
 from  a  hospital  to  a  different hospital, INCLUDING A MENTAL HYGIENE
 HOSPITAL, any such order or plan shall remain effective until an attend-
 ing practitioner first examines the transferred  patient,  whereupon  an
 attending practitioner must either:
   §  8.  Paragraph  (a) of subdivision 4 of section 2994-m of the public
 health law, as amended by chapter 708 of the laws of 2019, is amended to
 read as follows:
   (a) These procedures are required only when:  (i)  the  ethics  review
 committee is convened to review a decision by a surrogate to withhold or
 withdraw  life-sustaining  treatment for: (A) a patient in a residential
 S. 8395                             3

 health care facility pursuant to paragraph (b) of  subdivision  five  of
 section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of this article; (B) a patient
 in  a general hospital OR MENTAL HYGIENE HOSPITAL, pursuant to paragraph
 (c)  of subdivision five of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-d of
 this article; or (C) an emancipated minor patient pursuant  to  subdivi-
 sion three of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-four-e of this article;
 or (ii) when a person connected with the case requests the ethics review
 committee  to  provide  assistance in resolving a dispute about proposed
 care. Nothing in this section shall bar health care providers from first
 striving to resolve disputes through less formal  means,  including  the
 informal solicitation of ethical advice from any source.
   §  9.  Paragraph  (c) of subdivision 4 of section 2994-m of the public
 health law, as amended by chapter 708 of the laws of 2019, is amended to
 read as follows:
   (c) When an ethics review committee is convened  to  review  decisions
 regarding  hospice  care  for  a  patient  in a general hospital, MENTAL
 HYGIENE HOSPITAL, or residential health care facility, the  responsibil-
 ities  of this section shall be carried out by the ethics review commit-
 tee of the general hospital, MENTAL  HYGIENE  HOSPITAL,  or  residential
 health care facility, provided that such committee shall invite a repre-
 sentative from hospice to participate.
   §  10.  This  act  shall  take effect on the one hundred eightieth day
 after it shall have become a law.