Poyner Spruill Welcomes Education Law Practice Group

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In This Issue

New Online End-of-Life Planning Tool Now Available to NC Citizens and Health Care Providers – A new tool is now available for North Carolina citizens and health care providers that will help everyone understand end-of-life health care planning options and processes available under North Carolina law.

And the World Goes ‘Round – We come into this life with two things — a beating and a kiss. From our mother’s womb, we are slapped on the ass by a stranger — a cruel start to life — then handed to our mama for our first kiss, followed by breakfast at her breast. For most of my young life, growing up the shy, chubby child of a ninth-grade-graduate farm mechanic and a GED-accomplished bookkeeper…

What Is “Past Quality of Care” in a CON Review? – A recent certificate of need (CON) decision has muddied the waters further on the question of what constitutes past quality of care in a CON review. The case involved the Certificate of Need Section’s (CON Section or Agency) decision on competitive applications filed in 2012 seeking to develop hospital acute care beds and a separate application to relocate a hospital operating room in the Cumberland/Hoke County service area. A significant issue in the case was whether the Agency correctly concluded that the disapproved applicant did not conform with the statutory review criterion relating to quality of care, commonly known as Criterion 20.

CMS Issues New Surveyor Guidance on Initiating CPR in Nursing Homes and Facility CPR/DNR Policies – In a highly publicized recent case in California, a registered nurse working in an independent living facility refused to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on an elderly resident who was experiencing respiratory distress. The nurse refused to start CPR even when the 911 dispatcher begged her to start CPR or to find someone, even a bystander, who would do so. The nurse still refused, stating that the facility had a no-CPR policy at the time.

Ken’s Quote of the Month

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” ~ Semisonic/Dan Taylor

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