Florida

Policies Evaluated

Florida Health Care Advance Directives Act

• Fla. Stat. Ann. §§765.101 to 765.404 and §§765.1105 to 765.1115 (1999)

Case Law

Corbett v. D’Alessandro, 487 So. 2d 368 (Fla. 1986)("We are unable to distinguish on a legal, scientific, or a moral basis between those artificial measures that sustain life – whether by means of "forced" sustenance or "forced" continuance of vital functions – of the vegetative, comatose patient who would soon expire without the use of those artificial means.")

In re Browning, 568 So. 2d 4 (Fla. 1990)(refusing to require that the patient be in a permanent vegetative state before a surrogate can make a decision on the patient’s behalf. Rather, it was sufficient that the patient was no longer sufficiently competent to exercise her right to self-determination and was not expected to regain competency)(the surrogate is obligated to make the decision that the patient would have made under the doctrine of "substituted judgment")(acknowledging the state’s interest by requiring the surrogate to support his or her decision with "clear and convincing" evidence)

Calder M. Article: Chapter 765 Revisted: Florida’s New Advance Directives Law, 20 Fla. St. U.L. Rev 291 (1992)

Summary

For a summary of state policies dealing with artificial nutrition and hydration, click here