The Gerontologist, Vol 30, Issue 4 462-468, Copyright © 1990 by The Gerontological Society of America
Withdrawing and withholding treatment: policies in long-term care facilities
T Miller and AM Cugliari
New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, NY 10001-1803.
The Task Force on Life and the Law conducted a survey of nursing homes in
New York State in 1986 and 1988. The survey examined the existence of
policies on decisions about life-sustaining treatment, the process to
determine which residents have decision-making capacity, the prevalence of
ethics committees or other vehicles to resolve disputes, and policies on
advance directives such as living wills and durable powers of attorney.
Comparison of responses in 1986 and 1988 shows an increase in the number of
facilities that have established explicit policies and institutional
vehicles to address the dilemmas associated with decisions to withdraw or
withhold life-sustaining treatment.
