Are families of people in the ICU silenced by the law?

Doctors rushed an ill-fated motorcyclist with severe injuries to the head and chest to the ICU.   

In the difficult weeks that followed, the prognosis was progressively more and more grim. Family members were sure the patient "would not want to live like that" on a mechanical ventilator. 

But the law prevented them from speaking on his behalf.  

Read my full article at Scientific American blogs.

I was also interviewed on NHPR about this story as part of a three piece series on end-of-life decision-making.