... stand in front of Obama's "death panel"

[Ian David]

TX: Baby at center of life support fight dies

A terminally ill infant at the center of a life support fight died Wednesday while still receiving full medical treatment.

Six-month-old Knya Dismuke-Howard had leukemia that spread to her brain. Doctors at Memorial Hermann Children's hospital said continued care would be futile and a hospital ethics committee decided last week to remove her from life support Monday, despite objections from her family.

Knya also had multiple-organ failure and a serious bacterial infection and was on morphine to relieve pain. She was diagnosed with leukemia five months ago.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee faxed letters to Memorial Hermann and Texas Children's hospital Monday, asking that Memorial Hermann reconsider or that Texas Children's assume care. About three dozen people protested the hospital's decision on Tuesday. Some held signs that said "euthanasia is not ethical" and "thou shalt not kill." Jackson Lee has said she plans to write legislation that would allow parents to keep a hospital from removing life support from their sick child.

More:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D89SE4B01.html



Decision hinges on patient's ability to pay, prognosis

March 21, 2005
Sun Hudson, Terri Schiavo Media Politics Rights, Law

Six days ago, a 6-month-old baby boy named Sun Hudson died when Texas Children's Hospital disconnected his life support, against the wishes of his mother, because they decided that further treatment was "futile" and Wanda Hudson, the boy's mother, had no medical insurance. The Houston Chronicle reported:



Sun's death marks the first time a hospital has been allowed by a U.S. judge to discontinue an infant's life-sustaining care against a parent's wishes, according to bioethical experts.

More:
http://www.pastpeak.com/archives/2005/03/sun_hudson_terr.htm


See also:

TX: Baby at center of life support fight dies
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1444334


So, fuck you, Sarah Palin, The Teabaggers, and The GOP.

We already have a "death panel" and it was signed into law by Texas Governor George W. Bush and it kills babies and it kills adults pleading for their own lives.

[NYC_SKP]

1. kick for visibility. nt

Recommended, needless to say.

The Hudson family, so sorry for you needless loss. :cry:

:grouphug:

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

2. k&r. NT

[zbdent]

3. and put into place by the conservative saviour, "Party of Life" messiah,

George W. Bush ... with the National and Texas "Right to Life" movement's blessing ...

[jmowreader]

18. The Party of Life needed to look at that guy's record before elevating him

The man who believed every sperm was sacred, and who cut short a vacation to interfere in Michael Schiavo's family, not only enacted the Death Panel legislation but is in the Guinness Book of World Records under the category "most executions."

[zbdent]

4. Where's the nutjobs who were fighting tooth and nail to keep Terri Schiavo alive?

Where's their money, their media attention, their "President flying into DC in his jammies" to sign symbolic legislation which was rammed through on a weekend?

[Blue_Tires]

25. +1

[LynnTheDem]

5. Crickets chirping from the rightwingnuttery.

MFers.

[Phx_Dem]

6. kick.

[Raine1967]

7. KICK!!!

[DrToast]

8. This is very sad, but it sounds like the hospital was right

These are the tough decisions we have to make as a nation. The same thing probably would have happened in England.

[oldironside]

26. You can say "probably"...

... but we have very few facts about the case and I wonder what experience of the NHS you actually have. Reading the Daily Mail on line will not give you a clear impression. The simple fact is that any decision in the UK (the NHS covers the whole UK and not just England) would have been taken on clinical grounds and there would have been no mention of the mother's lack of health insurance, as there is very prominently in this article. This would not have been about health insurance executives worrying about their third yacht, which seems far too often the case in the US.

[knitter4democracy]

9. I bring this up every time one of my conservative friends goes off.

I don't know why they're so scared of the government making the decision when hospitals, doctors, but most of all, insurance companies make this decision daily, and many people die as a result.

[Number23]

10. Ian, there is something wrong with your first link

Kick and rec anyway. I can't even imagine the pain these families have gone through.

[krispos42]

11. But what if the family's medical insurer refuses to cover it?

Health care isn't a "right", it's a "privlege" you have to earn and buy.

After ALL, I don't want MY tax dollars....




Sorry, I can't finish this. It's distasteful, even in sarcasm.

[Ian David]

12. See also: Spiro Nikolouzos and Andrea Clark

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/3157837





See 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.html


More:
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/042606LifeAndDeath.html





Case 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.html




Another 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.php



Futile 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-life








Culture of life clashes with anti-tax movement
http://www.holmencourier.com/articles/2005/04/08/opinion/00edit.txt

Examining the alive, the dead and the line that divides them
http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/07/42548b53c8d04

Where was the outrage?
http://www.atmoreadvance.com/articles/2005/04/04/opinion/editorials/col1.txt

O'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.php


Also:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1444334

George W. Bush gave us "The Death Panel."
President Obama wants to make sure NOBODY ever faces a Death Panel for lack of insurance.

[cliffordu]

13. Kick for more visibillity

[Old Time Pagan]

14. Facts are such an inconvenience

when you're on an adrenaline rush after being whipped into a violent frenzy by your corporate overlords.

[angee_is_mad]

15. Bless you

for bringing this out in the open.

[George II]

16. I've been saying things like this ever since the rightwing bogus "death panel" crap came out...

...insurance companies have been operating death panels for decades. Why do they insist on "approving" procedures before they're done? How many have been rejected by insurance companies? How many people have died as a result of these rejections?

It's scare tactics - plain and simple. Thankfully the American people saw through all that garbage last November and voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. I think having a Republican president and congress was more fear inducing than any of their lying garbage today.

[mnhtnbb]

17. There are a lot of people in this country who have a very hard time letting go.

Multiple organ failures, serious bacterial infection, and terminally ill.

I wouldn't put my dog through that. I have a very hard time understanding people who
are willing to put their children through that when the best medical opinion indicates
it's time to let go.

I don't believe it should be forced through lack of insurance--but I do believe
we need real, open discussion about end of life issues.

No matter how you look at it, it's a tough decision and a terrible loss.

[bertman]

20. Very well stated, mnhtnbb. It is so hard to let go of a child or loved one who is beyond

the ability of our medical establishment to cure. Of course, they can be kept alive almost indefinitely, but why would anyone want to do that?

I don't see this as a healthcare issue so much as a very hard decision that doctors and hospitals must make on an almost daily basis.

It makes no sense at all to allow parents or loved ones to overrule the medical experts on issues like this. That will be the case whether it's private insurance or medicare or "socialized medicine". Someone has to make that decision and not everyone is going to agree with it. As long as the decision is based on the medical opinions of the physicians who are involved it should be allowed.

[George II]

19. Here's a link to the actual Texas law - check it quickly, they're taking it down in 2 weeks!!

http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/HS/content/htm/hs.002.00.000166.00.htm

I guess they're too embarassed to have such a law on the books so they don't want anyone to be able to read it!

[orleans]

21. i remember this story. did jackson lee ever write the legislation?

was anything ever done of this?

[Uzybone]

22. Kick...and will kick again

death panels indeed

[louis-t]

23. This is the second in a series of articles

that I am sending to my right-wing relatives who keep trying to 'educate' me re: Obama. I have asked them to stop sending this crap to me. I am tired of it, so I started sending her every article like this until she stops sending me the viral 'Obama gunna kill yer gramma' emails.

[Ian David]

24. See also: There are "death panels."

See also: There are "death panels."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6260308&mesg_id=6260308

[Tansy_Gold]

27. K & R n/t