In answer to your question, this is the best I have been able to pull together so far. I hope others can jump in and help refine it from sources they may have.
My attempt at a timeline:
March 23? or 24?("two weeks ago" in nephew's April 6 press release and WND April 7 article) or 28? -- aortic dissection -- admitted to LaGrange Hospital; moved to ICU.
March 28? -- moved to Hospice LaGrange at direction of Beth Gaddy (granddaughter), who ordered no IV or feeding tube be given.
March 31 -- relatives in Alabama who have decisionmaking authority according to Georgia law talked to hospice attorney--Mae's sister ordered IV fluids and feeding tube. Hospice attorney started IV fluids that evening but said family would have to come in person to sign order for feeding tube.
April 1-- family arrives to order feeding tube inserted. According to WND article it sounds like tube was inserted, but family was stalled from taking her to hospital. In local paper it sounds like feeding tube was never inserted. Meanwhile, granddaughter obtained emergency guardianship from probate court judge Donald Boyd, and she ordered no feeding tube or IV fluids.
April 4--hearing is held before probate court--Gaddy reportedly told judge that she is giving her grandmother ice chips, Jello and "anything else she'd be willing to eat" by mouth. The nephew is concerned because of a hospice nurse's report that she has not had anything substantial since March 28. Judge appointed three doctors to give recommendations. According to nephew's reports, the doctors did not speak until Wednesday, April 6. According to him, they talked again on Thursday, April 7, but still have not made a decision.
Conclusion: Mae did have fluids overnight on the 31st (12 - 16 hours would be a guess) and possibly a few hours of nutrition on the 1st (if WND report is correct). Other than that, she has only had a bit of food and ice chips by mouth since March 28. It is unclear what she was provided in the hospital and how long she was there, but I would assume fluids and nutrition were provided in the hospital. This would be a total of 11 days without substantial fluids and about 12 days without substantial nutrition. Those with more experience or medical knowledge, please feel free to correct.
Sources: Nephew's press releases on http://www.blogsforterri.com, LaGrange News article (http://www.lagrangenews.com/new.php?StoryType=full) and World Net Daily (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43688) article.
Have we had any word about what the three doctors are debating, exactly? What are the sticking points?!?
"March 31 -- relatives in Alabama who have decisionmaking authority according to Georgia law talked to hospice attorney--Mae's sister ordered IV fluids and feeding tube. Hospice attorney started IV fluids that evening but said family would have to come in person to sign order for feeding tube."
If the granddaughter had fiduciary power of attorney, then she had the legal right under Georgia statutes to make decisions for the grandmother. Courts normaly would not split medical and finacial care because they are so entertwined. The Granddaughter is also a legal next of kin, she had to have some sort of durable power of attorney in order to have a claim on the emergency guardianship.Georgia code 29-5-6 and 29-5-5.
I'm just guessing on this, but it fits the orginal fact patteren: there probably had been an earlier court hearing since the granddaughter had finacial power of attorney where she was named the legal next of kin. According to Georgia law the granddaughter and the brother have the same level of consanguinity for a kinship claim. IF there was an earlier court hearing where the granddaughter was given the power of attorney AND the living will was not a proper one (if it hasn't been properly noterized or filled out or it was one of those downloaded fill in the blank ones, not legally binding) the granddaughter is the next-of-kin especially since the granddaughter is a direct decendant.
She must have been since she obtained emergency guardianship.