Texas: The Involuntary Euthanasia State
Under this Texas Tiergartenstrasse 4 law, a hospital has the right to kill this poor woman against her wishes and against the wishes of her family. You know, if they just take Texas, reconquista might not be all that bad after all. Seriously. Is Texas America when it has laws like these?
Much more at Texas Rainmaker.
Much more at Texas Rainmaker.
posted by nk at 12:58 PM
1 Comments:
As a medical professional (RN for 30 yrs) I can't help but wonder what else is going on here. I'm not trying to defend anyone but doesn't it seem rather simplistic to dismiss the hospital's ethics committee decision as being merely about the money? There are multiple disciplines represented on these committees, including the legal department; these hard decisions aren't made lightly or with only one parties interests in mind. Medical facilities know these decisions will result in legal action thus take all the available information about the case, medical condition, chances of recovery, family wishes etc. into consideration. I can't seem to find anything written about Ms Clarke's diagnosis. I've read she had a weak heart, had open heart surgery, had some bleeding in her brain, is now on life support. That doesn't sound like it would have a good outcome to me. I know her sister says she was responsive and appropriate but has been medicated. Here again, medicine doesn't arbitrarily medicate patient's to silence them.
In reading the law I have a couple of questions, 166.039. section (a) addresses competence, a big issue in medicine these days, it says "... attending physician AND THE PATIENT'S LEGAL GUARDIAN OR AN AGENT may make a treatment decision..." who is acting as Ms Clarke's guardian/agent? Are this person and the physician in accord? Has this person contacted the hospital's patient advocate? What does that person have to say about the ethics committees decision? Is this person in agreement with Ms Clarke's sister/the rest of the family? Part (b) clearly outlines who may make treatment decisons. That person has obviously been in touch with Ms Clarke's physician and the committee or this decison would not have been made. Section (c) says the treatment decision MUST be made based on what the patient would want. Her sister says the patient wants to live so what is the committe basing it's decison on? Someone needs to ask. Finally section (g) says "A person listed in Subsection (b) who wishes to challenge a treatment decision made under this section must apply for temporary guardianship under Section 875, Texas Probate Code. The court may waive applicable fees in that proceeding.". There are options.
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