Cal. Advocates for Nursing Home Reform v. Smith

STREETER, J.-

I. INTRODUCTION

Health and Safety Code section 1418.8 (section 1418.8) sets forth procedures to be followed for nursing home residents who lack capacity to make their own health care decisions. Most of the affected residents are elderly, many are poor, and all may be described as "unbefriended" in the sense they are without family members, friends or other legal surrogates to make health care decisions for them. The statute requires an interdisciplinary team (IDT) approach to decisionmaking for these residents.

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), a nonprofit…