That headline is misleading. While the family initially brought a case to force the hospital to restore life support and rescind the DNR order, that was resolved in favor of the family and treatment restored. It was the hospital which wanted to pursue the matter through appeals in order to establish a precedent permitting hospitals to do what it did, or at least establishing some kind of ruling.
While that is a worthwhile goal, it is clear the family had no desire to represent the other side on behalf of patients statewide since the father had already passed and they had a lower court ruling that favored patients. When one party has no personal interest in pursuing a matter, they must demonstrate they have enough of an interest in an appeal to aggressively represent their side on behalf of similarly situated persons. It was proper to dismiss it since the family didn’t want to continue the suit. It is the hospital which is disappointed in the dismissal.
Precisely, the hospital went to court to try to get the court to grant hospitals the authority to convene death panels.