The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm Owner, Shannon Pawley, Writes About A Case That Sets A Precedent For Holding Medical Professionals Accountable For Ignoring Legal End-of-Life Medical Directives.
Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm Owner, Shannon Pawley, shares the results of a recent landmark case in which the New York State Supreme Court holds a hospital and its doctors accountable for the first time for ignoring living wills and a patient’s legal medical directive.
DECATUR, GA, April 22, 2022: Shannon Pawley, Owner of The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm, has posted a new article on the law firm’s website entitled “Finally, Legal Recourse When Doctors Ignore End-of-Life Directives.” Ms. Pawley considers this a win for every family who has been the victim of such medical malpractice.
Pawly poses the question to her readers, “How would you feel if you spent time and money creating your estate plan including a living will and health care directive only to have doctors and hospital ignore your legal end-of-life wishes?” She provides the only viable answer, “You would likely feel very much the way Elaine Greenberg did when her husband’s end-of-life legal directives were blatantly ignored by the doctors and the hospital in Westchester County New York. She was angry because her husband suffered intensely for 30 long days instead of being kept comfortable and allowed to pass within a few days.”
“Fortunately,” Pawley writes, “the doctors and hospital are being held accountable. This is a first and a very important one to set a precedent for any future events featuring such a violation.” As Pawley points out, “The sad truth is that doctors and hospitals around the country routinely ignore health care directives with no recourse for the families.”
Pawley provides some of the details of the case. She writes, “Here’s what happened with this case as reported by a local paper in Westchester County. The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s decision that stated, “a dying Westchester County man did not suffer any damages by being kept alive for 30 days at Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital when doctors refused to follow his living will or his wife’s legal requests as his health care proxy.”’
She goes on to add, “According to the article, Officials at Compassion & Choices, a national nonprofit dedicated to expanding and empowering options at the end of life such as medical aid in dying stated, “This reversal, issued March 31, marks the first time doctors and a hospital are being held accountable for ignoring or violating the documents that many people fill out and depend on — and that’s critical for ensuring that a person’s wishes are respected. Put simply, if people can sue for damages when healthcare providers and hospitals ignore do-not-resuscitate orders and living wills, those providers will be far more likely to follow them,” the nonprofit said in the amicus brief.”https://patch.com/new-york/southeast/hudson-valley-activist-relieved-ruling-death-dignity-suit?fbclid=IwAR0XryTR2JgewYhLaLIMJDyWYUpw61RYAcT3yqBtMNXX-M8e5pqSaAiw0hI
The entire article can be read at LINK HERE
About The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm
The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm was established to serve the legal needs of retiring citizens. The Firm focuses its entire practice on providing strategies to protect independence, privacy, assets and taxes from the government. Shannon Pawley has grown her law practice by providing excellent customer satisfaction with personalized wealth protection plans.
About Shannon M. Pawley, J.D., LL.M
As the owner of The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm, Shannon M. Pawley and her entire team share a passion which focuses on being able to serve the legal needs of retiring individuals. In our firm, WE BELIEVE that people should not have to lose everything they’ve worked a lifetime to earn and that every person is an individual who deserves respect and the highest quality of life possible, regardless of age or ability. We also believe that privacy and protection are the keys to personal peace. Born and raised in the Tidewater area of Virginia to a tightknit family with strong military service roots, Shannon learned from an early age the value of hard work and the importance of social awareness to ensure you always leave a situation in a better place than how you entered it. In her junior year of high school, Shannon served as U.S. House of Representatives Page during the 101st United States Congressional Session in Washington, D.C. This experience exposed her to numerous new cultures and worldly issues. Walking away from her experience as a U.S. House of Representative Page, Shannon knew that she wanted to pursue legal studies and be able to assist others in obtaining the best results available in difficult situations.
Shannon earned her undergraduate degree at North Carolina Wesleyan College and pursued a law degree from Michigan State University College of Law. After obtaining her law degree and becoming a licensed attorney in Michigan, she continued her educational pursuit by acquiring a LL.M. (Master of Law) in Taxation from Wayne State University. After moving to Georgia in 2018, Shannon obtained her Georgia law license and has enjoyed being able to pursue her desire of ensuring persons are able to age with dignity, grace and independence.
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Looking to find an experienced estate lawyer in the Georgia area who is skilled in asset protection and estate plan preparation? Shannon Pawley is an attorney in Georgia with expertise in estate planning and asset protection. Shannon can provide assistance with creating an estate plan to include making a will and how to establish a trust properly. If you have questions about asset protection or questions about making an estate plan, reach out to Shannon and she will be glad to help answer all the estate planning questions you might have!
