Brain Death - Hospital May Conduct Tests Over Parental Objections

Anthony Gestone was admitted to Nassau University Medical Center on April 9, 2026. His parents have prevented clinicians from conducting brain death testing for the past few weeks. But unless Gestone's parents transfer him by 5:00PM today, NUMC clinicians may then finally conduct those tests. 

Like just a handful of states, New York affirmatively clarifies that clinicians do NOT need consent to conduct brain death tests. But that rule is complicated by a separate New York regulation that requires religious accommodation not only after determination of death but also in the determination itself.  

The intersection of the "no consent" rule and the "religious accommodation" rule is now moot in the instant case. Religious accommodations in brain death cases are usually measured in terms of hours. This case, now weeks old, has already exceeded the bounds of reasonable accommodation.