A Matter of Life, Death, and Children: The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Section 2302 and a Shifting Legal Paradigm – Note by Ryan A. Walsh

Nick Snow was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare and deadly form of cancer, at the age of six. After undergoing “chemotherapies, surgeries, four types of radiation, a bone marrow transplant and many experimental therapies,” Nick saw his cancer finally go into remission six years after diagnosis. Twice during this grueling ordeal, doctors told Nick that he would soon die and enrolled him in a hospice program. Unexpectedly, Nick’s general health improved during hospice treatment, enabling him to resume the fight against his cancer. Under then-existing federal laws, Nick’s improved health and decision to seek a long-term cure simultaneously rendered him ineligible for hospice services. As this Note discusses and as Nick Snow explained in his own words, this legally mandated result is unsatisfactory.