Reply #2: All Patients on Life Support Are Equal - Some Are Less Equal Than Others [View All]

[dutchdemocrat]

All Patients on Life Support Are Equal
Some Are Less Equal Than Others
By Billmon

Not to mention a different color:

The baby wore a cute blue outfit with a teddy bear covering his bottom. The 17-pound, nearly 6-month-old boy wiggled with eyes open, his mother said, and smacked his lips. Then at 2 p.m. Tuesday, a medical staffer at Texas Children's Hospital gently removed the breathing tube that had kept Sun Hudson alive since his birth Sept. 25. Cradled by his mother, he took a few breaths, and died . . . Sun's death marks the first time a U.S. judge has allowed a hospital to discontinue an infant's life-sustaining care against a parent's wishes, according to bioethical experts.”

Houston Chronicle

Baby dies after hospital removes breathing tube
March 16, 2005

Of course, being born in Texas didn't help, either:

Texas law allows hospitals to discontinue life-sustaining care, even if a patient's family members disagree. A doctor's recommendation must be approved by a hospital's ethics committee, and the family must be given 10 days from written notice of the decision to try and locate another facility for the patient. Texas Children's said it contacted 40 facilities with newborn intensive care units, but none would accept Sun.

(Via Wild Sects and No More Mister Nice Blog)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

ABC News obtained talking points circulated among Senate Republicans explaining why they should vote to intervene in the Schiavo case. Among them, that it is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited, and that it is a great political issue -- this is a tough issue for Democrats.

ABC News

DeLay Says He's Not Giving Up Schiavo Fight
March 19, 2005

A patient's inability to pay for medical care combined with a prognosis that renders further care futile are two reasons a hospital might suggest cutting off life support, the chief medical officer at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital said Monday.

Dr. David Pate's comments came as the family of Spiro Nikolouzos fights to keep St. Luke's from turning off the ventilator and artificial feedings keeping the 68-year-old grandfather alive.”
Houston Chronicle

Hospitals can end life support

March 8, 2005

Late one evening in the summer, a sudden rumour ran round the farm that something had happened to Boxer . . . A few minutes later two pigeons came racing in with the news: Boxer has fallen! He is lying on his side and can't get up!

About half the animals on the farm rushed out to the knoll where the windmill stood. There lay Boxer, between the shafts of the cart, his neck stretched out, unable even to raise his head. . . .
After about a quarter of an hour Squealer appeared, full of sympathy and concern. He said that Comrade Napoleon had learned with the very deepest distress of this misfortune to one of the most loyal workers on the farm, and was already making arrangements to send Boxer to be treated in the hospital at Willingdon.
The animals felt a little uneasy at this. Except for Mollie and Snowball, no other animal had ever left the farm, and they did not like to think of their sick comrade in the hands of human beings. However, Squealer easily convinced them that the veterinary surgeon in Willingdon could treat Boxer's case more satisfactorily than could be done on the farm . . .

The animals were all at work weeding turnips under the supervision of a pig, when they were astonished to see Benjamin come galloping from the direction of the farm buildings, braying at the top of his voice. It was the first time that they had ever seen Benjamin excited -- indeed, it was the first time that anyone had ever seen him gallop.
Quick, quick! he shouted. Come at once! They're taking Boxer away! . . .

Sure enough, there in the yard was a large closed van, drawn by two horses, with lettering on its side and a sly-looking man in a low-crowned bowler hat sitting on the driver's seat. And Boxer's stall was empty.
The animals crowded round the van. Good-bye, Boxer! they chorused, good-bye!

Fools! Fools! shouted Benjamin, prancing round them and stamping the earth with his small hoofs.
Fools! Do you not see what is written on the side of that van? . . . in the midst of a deadly silence he read: 'Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied.' Do you not understand what that means? They are taking Boxer to the knacker's!

George Orwell

Animal Farm
1945