NY S08395

Expands the Family Health Care Decisions Act to cover life-sustaining treatment and hospice care decisions (not just do-not-resuscitate orders) for patients lacking decision-making capacity in mental hygiene hospitals

Adds "mental hygiene hospital" as a defined term, referring to hospitals under the mental hygiene law, and incorporates these facilities throughout the public health law provisions

Requires health or social services practitioners in mental hygiene hospitals to independently verify a patient lacks decision-making capacity when surrogates make decisions about withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment

Establishes that ethics review committees in mental hygiene hospitals must review surrogate decisions to withdraw or withhold nutrition and hydration when the attending practitioner objects

Ensures that orders to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment remain effective when patients are transferred to mental hygiene hospitals until an attending practitioner examines the patient

Takes effect 180 days after becoming law