Perhaps one of the most difficult decisions anyone might face is what to do if a loved one has slipped into a coma and doctors expect no recovery. Even when you believe know your loved one’s wishes, the choice to shut off feeding and hydration tubes is downright uncomfortable. The doctors say the person won’t feel any pain, but what if they are wrong? And for every Terri Schavio out there, someone else can point to people such as Jesse Ramirez, a Chandler man who regained consciousness two years ago after his family fought to restore his food and water. Ramirez’s wife had moved him to a hospice center and directed medical staff to let him fade away.

Ramirez’s story inspired a new state policy signed into law Monday by Gov. Jan Brewer that had been promoted by pro-life groups. Essentially, HB2616 seeks to tilt tough situations toward keeping patients alive.

The law will apply if the coma patient didn’t write a living will or health care directive, and a judge appoints a guardian to make health care decisions for that person. The guardian will be required to notify the court if he or she wants to withhold food and water, and the guardian must seek to contact family members who might not know about the patient’s condition. If any family member protests the guardian’s decision, the court will be required to override it and keep the patient supplied with food and water, unless the judge is convinced such measures will do more harm than good or that the patient wouldn’t want to be kept alive in this manner.

Even if the judge agrees to withhold food and water over a family member’s opposition, such action will be automatically delayed so that family member can pursue appeals.

As the result of this statute, without a living will or health care directive, it will far easier for family members who believe in miracles (or whose beliefs reject assisted suicide in any form) to stop the withholding of food and water.

The law goes into effect Sept. 30.