Lawmakers Debate Whether Pregnant Women Should Get to Make Their Own End-of-Life Decisions
The House State Affairs Committee heard a bill Wednesday that would allow pregnant women and their families to make their own end-of-life decisions. Currently, under Texas’ advance directive law, doctors “may not withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment … from a pregnant patient,” a little-known clause that drew national attention when a pregnant woman in Fort Worth was declared brain dead in 2013.
House Bill 3183 by state Rep. Elliott Naishtat (D-Austin) would eliminate this so-called “pregnancy exclusion” provision.
“Anybody can fill out an advance directive, but only women who are pregnant can have that advance directive voided by a hospital or by the state,” he told committee members. “That’s not fair, that hurts families very much, and this is a simple fix.”
Naishtat’s bill is inspired by the story of Marlise Muñoz, a 33-year-old mother and paramedic from North Texas who collapsed at her home and suffered a pulmonary embolism in November 2013. At 14 weeks pregnant, Marlise was declared brain dead after she was hospitalized in Fort Worth. Citing the state’s advance directive law, doctors refused to remove her from life support, despite the fact that she made it clear to her family years prior that she wouldn’t want to continue treatment in such a situation. Muñoz’s husband Erick and her parents Lynne and Ernie Machado sued the hospital and ultimately won their case, and the right to bury Marlise.
Read more: http://www.texasobserver.org/lawmakers-debate-whether-pregnant-women-should-get-to-make-their-own-end-of-life-decisions/
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They can't possibly think their bodies aren't property of the state.
