Doctors Hospital of Augusta v. Alicea
Supreme Court of Georgia
788 S.E.2d 392 (2016)
Despite having Stephenson's advance directive designating her daughter Alicea (plaintiff) as healthcare agent and specifying no ventilator use, a hospital (defendant) doctor who never read the directive obtained Alicea's consent for an unspecified procedure without disclosing it would require intubation and a ventilator, then ordered a second ventilator use without even contacting Alicea, and hospital staff generally proceeded based on the doctor's own directions rather than genuinely seeking and following Alicea's decisions as agent; Alicea sued after Stephenson's death, and the hospital claimed statutory immunity.
Whether a healthcare provider who failed to follow an advance directive can claim immunity if the provider's action was not based in good faith on the direction of the directive's agent.