The Baby Doe Rules and Texas’s 'Futility Law' in the NICU

Authors

Thomas Wm. Mayo, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow

Abstract

The applicability in the NICU of the futility provision of Texas's Advance Directives Act and its relationship to the Baby Doe rules are reasonably straightforward. Nonetheless, many comments have been written about Texas's so-called “futility law,” some of them complimentary and others, not so much. The most serious critiques of the Texas futility provision, however, are based upon assumptions that result from a fundamental misreading of the law. After a brief discussion of the futility provision and its principal features, this Essay examines the misunderstandings that plague many critiques of the law and then offers a list of proposed amendments to the law that address some of the actual deficiencies in the futility provision.

Publication Title

Georgia State University Law Review

Document Type

Article

Keywords

end-of-life treatment, Baby Doe rule, medical futility, death and dying

Recommended Citation

Thomas William Mayo, The Baby Doe Rules and Texas's Futility Law in the NICU, 25 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 1003 (2009)