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Buffalo News
Sunday Viewpoints
Sunday, April 23, 2000
Tragic case highlights need for state law that lets families and
physicians, not courts, make critical medical decisions
Until her final illness, 42-year-old
Sheila Pouliot was largely unknown
outside her small circle of family and
caregivers. Then her life was
unexpectedly and tragically thrust
into the national spotlight.
The last months of her life raise
troubling ethical and legal issues
concerning the rights of the disabled,
the rights of families and children
and the rights of any one of us who
might become incapacitated through
illness, injury or age.... go to
article
It would be hard to find anyone who would condone a legal system that
unnecessarily causes pain and suffering to a child. Yet
the current Health Care
Proxy Law in New York does just that.
Children are by law "incompetent" to make decisions for
themselves. And most
parents and many physicians are surprised to learn that
parents do not have the
legal power to ask medical personnel to stop treatment,
even if everyone,
including physicians, agrees it would be in the best
interest of the child. Doctors
are required to do everything possible, even when it's
clear there will be no
recovery, as long as the child isn't brain dead.
go to
article
Any competent adult may sign a New York health care proxy. Although no
records are kept, legal and medical experts estimate
that a very low percentage
of New York's citizens have signed proxies since the law
authorizing them
became effective in 1991.
go to
article
For more Information, E-mail Family Decision Coalition
For questions about website, E-mail Jack Freer
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