Crash victim's family gets deadline to transport comatose man or let NUMC test for brain death

The family of a 23-year-old Farmingdale man, left comatose at Nassau University Medical Center following an April 9 car crash, has until Wednesday evening to arrange transport to another medical facility or the East Meadow hospital will determine if he can be declared brain dead, according to a court order signed Tuesday.

The order provides a 24-hour window — until 5 p.m. Wednesday — for the parents of Anthony Romeo Gestone to transport their son to New Beginnings, a Wading River nonprofit that provides long-term rehabilitation services to survivors of traumatic brain injury and other cognitive and physical disorders.

If the family cannot facilitate the move, or decides against the transport, the hospital will conduct the neurological tests at 5:01 p.m. to determine whether Gestone can be declared legally brain dead.

The hospital would then give the family one hour to pay their final respects to Gestone before removing all life preserving services, according to the order, signed Tuesday by Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Donald X. Clavin Jr.

"We have reached a compromise today that allows the Gestone family some time to seek alternative care for Tony and for them to pay their respects should that be needed," Sonal Jain, an attorney for the family, said following a court hearing in Mineola on Tuesday. "Given the tragic circumstances, the family is comfortable with the compromise reached today."

A NUMC spokesman said the hospital has "taken all medically appropriate steps to support and accommodate the family’s wishes during this difficult time. Our thoughts are with the family, and our care team has approached this matter with compassion and respect throughout. We will not object to the transportation of the patient and will fully comply with the court-ordered stipulation."

But some family members expressed trepidation about moving Gestone. The transport, the order states, must be arranged, paid for and implemented exclusively by the family.

"We're trying but there is a lot we have to do in such a short period of time," said Joseph Hauser, Gestone's uncle, who was joined by dozens of friends and family members at the hearing. "My sister [Anthony's mother Angelique Gestone] doesn't feel confident we can get it done given the time frame we have. But we're going to try."

Gestone was driving south on Wantagh State Parkway on April 9 when he crossed over the center median into the northbound lanes and struck a tree, family and friends said. 

First responders extricated Gestone from the vehicle and rushed him to NUMC, where surgeons removed part of his skull and diagnosed him with a traumatic brain injury.

Gestone sustained intracranial bleeding, brain swelling and the midline of his brain shifted "massively," wrote Dr. Ryan Senese, a trauma surgeon who has been treating the victim, in an April 28 affidavit. Gestone, who also suffered spinal cord trauma and two collapsed lungs, has remained in a coma ever since.

On April 10, NUMC's treatment team determined that Gestone met the criteria for neurological brain death and sought to conduct a series of tests to verify that conclusion, records show.

But Angelique Gestone objected to the tests, arguing they would violate her religious beliefs as a devout Christian. She also contends the hospital was not giving her son sufficient time to recover and regain brain function.

The family last week secured a temporary restraining order preventing the hospital from conducting the tests until Anthony was examined by a private neurologist. The results of that examination, family members told Newsday Tuesday, were inconclusive.

But Senese argued in court papers Tuesday that Anthony has shown no brainstem activity.

"It is the unified opinion of the treatment team that Anthony Gestone's brain is not viable," Senese wrote in the affidavit. "Since April 10, 2026 ... significant amounts of skin covering the cranium have become necrotic and he has shown no evidence of movement suggestive of brain activity."

Senese argued that an apnea or brain perfusion test, which is needed to determine if someone can be declared legally brain dead, "is necessary and unavoidable."

But Allyson Scerri, founder of New Beginnings, and Dr. Alexander Scheer, the facility's medical director, disagreed with NUMC's assessment.

"From a brain death protocol, he does not meet the qualifications," said Scheer, who attended Tuesday's hearing. "Anthony is not dead. He needs time for his brain to heal. It's a 3-week-old injury. I've seen miracle after miracle. You have to give them a chance to recover."

Scerri, whose father was involved in a 2007 motorcycle accident in Florida that left him with a traumatic brain injury, said the Gestones have reason to remain hopeful.

"We have 19 years of stories," she said of her facility. "No one can ever take away your hope."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.