Betancourt v. Trinitas Hospital
New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division
1 A.3d 823 (2010)
Reuben Betancourt suffered severe, permanent brain damage after a ventilator malfunction during his recovery from surgery at Trinitas Hospital (defendant), leaving him in a persistent vegetative state with no advance directive on file. When rehabilitation failed, Trinitas sought the family's (plaintiff's) consent to enter a Do Not Resuscitate order and stop life-sustaining treatment; the family refused, and Trinitas unilaterally placed the DNR order anyway. The family sued, and the trial court ordered treatment restored and appointed Betancourt's daughter as his medical surrogate. While Trinitas's appeal of that ruling was pending, Betancourt died, and the family moved to dismiss the appeal as moot.
Whether, in the absence of an executed advance directive, a court evaluating whether to continue or withdraw life-sustaining treatment for a patient in a persistent vegetative state must weigh expert medical testimony on prognosis together with evidence of the patient's own wishes.