A San Antonio hospital has decided to withdraw life support from the Friendswood invalid whose family successfully fought a Houston facility with the same plans last month.
snip:
Spiro Nikolouzos' case attracted significant attention in Houston in March, the same time the Terri Schiavo drama reached its climax. It shone a light on a seldom-used Texas law that allows hospitals to remove a patient from life support 10 days after notifying family of its intentions. The family has that time to find an alternative facility.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3157837See also:
Two Life and Death Battles Ongoing In Texas Hospitals
Efforts are continuing to save the life of Andrea Clark, a patient at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas, sentenced to die by the hospital's ethics committee under the state's Futile Care Law.
Democrats and Republicans, the left and the right have united in their effort to save the life of Andrea and others like her.
The life of Venlang Vo also hangs in the balance at St. David's North Austin Medical Center in Austin, Texas.
Andrea Clark, 54, is not terminal, her family says and she's not brain dead. Her sisters say that she wants to live, has expressed that in the past and would relate that now were she not so heavily medicated, medication the hospital says she's needs due to pain from a bed sore.The Houston hospital is going to unilaterally remove a woman from life support under state law even though her family wants her to continue to receive care.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/042406HoustonLife.htmlMore:
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/042606LifeAndDeath.htmlCase Puts Texas Futile-Treatment Law Under a Microscope
Statute Allows for Deadline on Care
By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 11, 2007; Page A03
AUSTIN, April 10 -- A 17-month-old deaf, blind and terminally ill child on life support is the latest focus in an emotional fight against a Texas law that allows hospitals to withdraw care when a patient's ongoing treatment is declared "medically futile."
More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001620.htmlAnother Potential Texas Futile Care Law Victim
By plb on May 30, 2006 12:41 PM | 4 Comments
A Texas mother and her baby are the latest victims in an ongoing battle against a Texas law that allows medical facilities to tell the family of a patient that they have 10 days to find another medical center willing to treat the patient because their doctors think the case is hopeless. (LifeNews)
The exclusive story was reported by the Dallas Morning News:
Baby Daniel is nearly brain-dead. He cannot breathe without a ventilator. He cannot eat without a feeding tube.
More:
http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2006/05/another_potenti.phpFutile Care Laws: Anti Choice, Anti Life
Reader diary posted by Progo35
April 26, 2009 - 2:36pm
Published under: choice | disability rights | healthcare | life
Progo35's diary | Report diary | Printer-friendly version |
Progo35's picture
Despite the polarization that often occurs between the pro life and pro choice camps, there are many issues upon which we can agree, particularly when we are faced with an injustice that violates the fundamental tenets of both pro choice and pro life philosophy. Futile care laws are an example of such injustice.
Quietly creeping up for over a decade, futile care laws give doctors and hospitals the right to withdraw treatment from patients even when the patients have a living will or healthcare proxy expressing the desire to continue these measures. For instance, a patient on kidney dialysis may be refused further treatment because age, concurrent medical issues, or his or her likelihood of finding a suitable organ donor. A person on a respirator may be denied that treatment because she has a terminal illness, is quadrapalegic, or has some other condition requiring treatment that her doctor considers heroic. A conscious person who has had a stroke may be denied food and water even if it is requested, if such sustenance must be administred with mechanical assistance.
More:
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/reader-diaries/2009/04/22/futile-care-laws-anti-choice-anti-lifeCulture of life clashes with anti-tax movement
http://www.holmencourier.com/articles/2005/04/08/opinion/00edit.txtExamining the alive, the dead and the line that divides them
http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/07/42548b53c8d04Where was the outrage?
http://www.atmoreadvance.com/articles/2005/04/04/opinion/editorials/col1.txtO'Reilly Flip-Flops, Defends Texas Law That Allows Baby Sun Hudson to Die
Bill O'Reilly ran a segment yesterday (3/23/05) on the state-sanctioned termination of the life of 5-month-old Sun Hudson over the objections of his mother, Wanda, an indigent African-American resident of Houston, Texas. O'Reilly interviewed William Winslade, Ph. D, a bioethicist at the University of Texas-Galveston and Mario Caballero of Lone Star Legal Aid, who is Ms. Hudson's attorney.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/03/24/oreilly_flipflops_defends_texas_law_that_allows_baby_sun_hudson_to_die.phpAlso:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1444334George W. Bush gave us "The Death Panel."
President Obama wants to make sure NOBODY ever faces a Death Panel for lack of insurance.