A Nassau County Supreme Court judge granted an emergency order that temporarily blocked Nassau University Medical Center from conducting brain death testing on Anthony Gestone, a 23-year-old Farmingdale man, after his mother filed a lawsuit on April Friday, April 17.
Gestone was critically injured on April 9, when his car struck a tree along Southern State Parkway, but his mother said she believes he is still alive.
Her petition states “Anthony’s current condition is critical; however, he maintains a heartbeat, stable body temperature, blood flow, and circulation. More importantly, his mother believes he is alive.”
Court documents filed by NUMC’s attorney show that Gestone was traveling the wrong way on the parkway when he crashed, and that it took first responders 15 to 20 minutes to remove him from the vehicle.
After Gestone arrived at NUMC, the trauma team observed severe skull deformities, multiple fractures and active bleeding, and Gestone was rushed into emergency surgery. According to hospital court filings, Gestone’s brain herniated both at the brainstem and past the midline, and physicians informed counsel that his brain “is not viable.”
Since April 10, the NUMC treatment team has maintained that there is no evidence of brainstem activity.
Gestone’s mother, Angelique Gestone, filed a petition, asking the court to prevent NUMC from performing an apnea test or nuclear SPECT brain perfusion scan — the final steps in determining brain death under New York State law.
In her petition, Angelique Gestone says she is a devout Christian, stating that her religious beliefs hold that “God is in charge of Anthony’s life” and that consenting to testing designed to declare him dead would violate her faith. She is seeking at minimum a 14-day postponement of any such testing, and additionally alleges that the hospital failed to provide Anthony with any nutritional support for nine days following the accident.
According to the petition, family members also saw what they described as foot and finger movements from Anthony Gestone on multiple occasions, including video-recorded foot movement on the morning the petition was filed. The petition states these reports were made to nursing staff but were not documented in his medical records.
NUMC’s attorney filed a formal opposition on April 19 and April 20, arguing that the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction should be vacated. NUMC’s lawyer maintained that the brain death checklist, which includes the apnea or brain perfusion tests, “does not require consent” under New York law, and that the testing “will neither hasten death nor support life,” but is simply a mandated diagnostic process.
Source: LI Press
