What is the Surrogate Decision-Making Committee (SDMC)?
The Surrogate Decision-Making Committee (SDMC) program is an alternative to the court system and is authorized to provide consent for non-emergency major medical treatment and end-of-life care decisions for people who qualify. The program consists of volunteer panels that make the decision, providing for quicker, more accessible, cost-free, and personalized decision-making on behalf of individuals receiving services.
SDMC considers major medical treatment decisions and end-of-life care decisions for certain individuals who are unable to provide informed consent and who do not have an authorized, willing, and available surrogate to act on their behalf.
For official SDMC program information, please visit the New York State Justice Center SDMC pages:
Clients Served Last Year:
377
Funding Generously Provided by:
NYS Justice Center Protection for People with Special Needs and private donations.
Contact Information:
Nassau
175 Fulton Avenue, 4th Floor
Hempstead, NY 11550
(516) 489-7733 x169
Suffolk
320 Carleton Ave., Suite 8000
Central Islip, NY 11722
(631) 265-0490
How the SDMC Program Works
A panel is made up of volunteers appointed by the Justice Center who serve their home communities throughout New York State. Hearings take place at a location convenient to the individual in need of a decision, usually in a community-based setting.
Hearing Panel Composition
A hearing panel must consist of at least three, and no more than four members. Panels include one member from each of the following categories:
- New York State licensed health care professional
- New York State attorney
- Former patients or family members of individuals with mental disabilities
- Advocate for persons with mental disabilities
Panel Determinations
The SDMC panel makes the following determinations:
- Determination of the individual’s ability to consent to or refuse the proposed major medical treatment decision.
- Determination of whether there is an authorized surrogate who is willing and available to consent to or refuse the proposed major medical treatment decision.
- Determination of whether the proposed major medical treatment decision is in the best interest of the patient.
Volunteer Information
Volunteer panels are appointed by the New York State Justice Center. Volunteers receive free training and serve their home communities throughout New York State.
For official volunteer information and applications, please visit:
https://www.justicecenter.ny.gov/volunteer
Volunteer Contact Information (Justice Center):
Phone: 518-549-0328
Email: SDMCVolunteers@justicecenter.ny.gov
Volunteer Reflections
Volunteer reflections represent personal experiences and do not describe official EAC/SDMC policy or eligibility requirements. For official program information, please visit the New York State Justice Center SDMC pages.
The Outcomes of The Surrogate Decision Making Committee (SDMC)
At-risk individuals have a group of people advocating for their best interests, resulting in appropriate medical care.
What People Say About The Surrogate Decision Making Committee (SDMC)
I am so grateful to receive such a profound sense of service on the SDMC panel, since the least fortunate of our society need our ability to ‘speak out’ for them. SDMC serves staff and clients to empower very vulnerable people in getting much needed health care. Thank you for this privilege to serve in this way; to lift others up as a public benefactor. That’s what our society needs: institutions that encourage others! Thank you!
A couple of years after retiring from the United States Department of Justice, I heard about an opportunity to volunteer as a Surrogate Decision Maker (SDM). Shortly after completing training, I received my first assignment and have presided as the attorney panelist for 8 years, in approximately 75-100 cases. These matters have involved decisions for clients ranging in age from their late teens to mid seventies. The medical care involved procedures such as: invasive screening procedures like colonoscopies and spinal surgery to correct deformities, or with conditions involving medical recommendations for end of life, palliative care, or even withdrawal from a respirator. My involvement in this personally fulfilling role has given me a better appreciation of the abilities as well as the disabilities of the people being served by the SDMC program, and enabled me to gain a better understanding of the day to day efforts of their caregivers and the professionals who provide them with service. I have learned that regardless of how routine or simple a medical procedure may be that I my fellow volunteers in the SDMC program play an exceptionally important role in making the three decisions: lack or existence of capacity for the client to make a health care decision, unavailability or willingness of qualified representative to make the decision, and whether the proposed treatment, when the answer to the two other questions is in the negative, is in the best interest of the patient. Making such decisions requires careful attention to the testimony and using ones skills to ask questions to obtain the information needed to make the decision. On a personal level, when it became necessary to make health care decisions for my aging parents, I felt much better equipped and emotionally able to deal with their advanced illnesses and finally hospice care decision-making.
