Betancourt v. Trinitas Hospital, 1 A.3d 823 (2010), is a New Jersey legal case concerning whether a hospital may unilaterally refuse care to a patient on the grounds that it is futile to prolong the person's life because there is little chance that the condition will improve. It has become the focal point of the ongoing debate surrounding denial of care among professional bioethicists. Background Ruben Betancourt of Elizabeth, New Jersey was a 73-year-old retired machinist who suffered from anoxic encephalopathy, a form of brain damage, following successful thoracic surgery for a thymus gland tumor at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in 2008. His doctors determined that he was in a persistent vegetative state, removed his dialysis port, and sought to impose a do not resuscitate order on him. In response to this decision, Betancourt's daughter went to court and sought legal guardianship of her father. The hospital, which is affiliated with the Catholic Church, opposed her petition. In court papers, Trinitas argued that "Mr. Betancourt is dying...and that dying is being prolonged by the treatment rendered." A trial court ruled in favor of Betancourt's daughter, finding that she was unquestionably a loving, appropriate guardian, and was also the unanimous choice of her family. The hospital appealed the court's decision. In contrast, Betancourt's daughter does not accept this diagnosis. "My father would turn his head," she told an interviewer. "One time I was joking, my father started laughing. How can you tell me a person like that is nonresponsive?". When asked if Betancourt was suffering pain, a Trinitas doctor answered, "I know it. I've seen it." An amicus brief filed in the case calls the diagnosis into question, as pain is not consistent with the diagnosis of persistent vegetative state. Betancourt died in May 2009. On Friday, August 13, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey issued their opinion in Betancourt v. Trinitas. In essence the court ruled that because Betancourt had died, the issue was now moot. Thus, they neither support the plaintiff’s nor the defendant’s positions. Law and ethics According to Sam Germana, vice president and general counsel for Trinitas, the hospital's ethics committee met multiple times to evaluate Betancourt's case. "Our doctors usually err on the side of doing anything," he told the press. "It's extremely rare when they say 'enough is enough, we're just keeping organs alive." At the time of the committee meetings,