BILL NUMBER: S2930

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to orders not to
resuscitate; and to repeal article 29-B of the public health law relat-
ing to orders not to resuscitate for residents of mental hygiene facili-
ties

 
PURPOSE:

To repeal article 29-B of the public health law relating to orders not
to resuscitate for residents of mental hygiene facilities

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 repeals article 29-B of the public health law as it relates to
orders not to resuscitate for residents of mental hygiene facilities.

Section 2 amends section 2994-b of the public health law by adding a new
subdivision 1-a as it relates to orders not to resuscitate. This section
              

gives language that priority of certain other surrogate decision-making
laws and regulations will also apply to decisions regarding orders not
to resuscitate for a patient who lacks decision-making capacity in a
hospital.

Section 3 amends subdivision 5 of section 2994-cc of the public health
law as it relates to consent by a patient. This section states that
consent by a patient or a surrogate for a patient in a facility operated
or licensed by the office of mental health shall be governed by this
article. This section also allows consent to a non-hospital order not to
resuscitate by a patient who is intellectually or otherwise develop-
mentally disabled and eligible for life-sustaining treatment.

Section 4 amends section 2994-ff of the public health law as it relates
to inter-institutional transfers. According to this section, if a
patient with a non-hospital order not to resuscitate is admitted to a
hospital, or if a hospital patient with an order not to resuscitate is
transferred from a hospital to a different hospital, the order shall be
treated as an order not to resuscitate for a patient transferred from
another hospital.

Section 5 provides the effective date

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This bill repeals PHL Art 29-B orders not to resuscitate for residents
of mental hygiene facilities. Prior to 2010, PHL Art. 29-B governed do
not resuscitate (DNR) orders in hospitals, nursing homes, mental hygiene
facilities, and elsewhere. Ch. 8, L. 2010 (i) replaced the DNR Law with
the Family Health Care Decisions Act (FHCDA) in hospitals and nursing
homes, amended PHL Art. 29-B to make it applicable only to residents of
mental hygiene facilities, i.e, psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric units
of general hospitals, and Office of People With Developmental Disabili-
ties (OPWDD)-operated developmental centers, and (iii) created PHL Art.
29-CCC - Non Hospital Orders Not To Resuscitate, to cover all other
settings.

It soon became clear that there is no need for a separate DNR law for
residents of mental hygiene facilities. First, DNR orders for residents
of OPWDD-operated developmental centers were already governed by SCPA §
1750-b, making PHL Art. 29-B redundant. Second, DNR orders in psychiat-
ric hospitals and general hospital mental health units were more appro-
priately governed by the provisions in the FHCDA. Moreover, variations
in DNR procedures and standards especially between the procedures and
standards in hospital medical units and hospital mental health units
have become a source of confusion and complexity.

Accordingly, section 1 of this bill repeals PHL Art. 29-B. Related
amendments in this bill provide that DNR decisions for patients in
psychiatric hospitals and units are governed by the FHCDA and confirm
that DNR decisions for all persons with developmental disabilities are
governed by SCPA 1.750-b (§§ 2 - 4).

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-2020: S5762A/A7172A Gunther

2021-2022: S4684/A5508 Gunther

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.