Brownwood Case & Texas Futile Care Law -Terri Schiavo Case & Local Implications ?
Note: George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week.
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Tuesday March 22, 2005
News
Uncle: MRI shows brain damage in Modgling
By Steve Nash -- Brownwood Bulletin
An MRI has revealed that Garret Modgling suffered brain damage when he fell into a septic tank Thursday and nearly drowned, Brian Wade, an uncle of the 2-year-old boy, said Monday.
Wade said he did not know specifics of what the MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, showed about Garret's brain or how severely it has been damaged.
"It's kind of a waiting game at this point," Wade, who has made several trips to be with his nephew at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, said by phone in Brownwood.
He said family members have not wavered from their faith in God and still believe a miracle can restore the boy to health. "No giving up on that at all," he said. " ... Our request to God hasn't changed."
But Wade acknowledged that fatigue is taking a toll on the family.
"It is trying at times. You have to fight that discouragement," he said.
He said is nephew is hooked up to a ventilator and other medical apparatus, but "overall he looks really good," Wade said. "His skin tone is good."
He said doctors have said they want to remove the ventilator soon to see if the boy can breathe on his own. He said Garret has taken some breaths and overridden the ventilator.
Wade said doctors are also concerned about the lack of a "gag reflex" in Garret, which Wade said is crucial in allowing the boy to swallow but avoid asphyxiating on saliva.
Garret had no pulse for an hour or more as he underwent CPR and other life-saving efforts after falling into the septic tank on another family member's property on County Road 592, about 2 miles north of Early.
http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/03/22/news/news01.txt
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March 10, 2005, 10:49PM
Right to Life backed law that irks wife
By RICK CASEY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Jannette Nikolouzos is angry with the Texas law that allows St. Luke's Hospital to unhook her husband from life support tomorrow.
"I'm so ashamed of my state that it executes civilians without criminal history," she told reporter Todd Ackerman.
She may be surprised to learn that National Right to Life, the organization that is helping to lead the fight to keep a Florida hospital from removing life support for Terri Schiavo, helped write the Texas law.
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March 15, 2005, 8:16PM
Baby born with fatal defect dies after removal from life support
By LEIGH HOPPER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
The baby wore a cute blue outfit with a teddy bear covering his bottom. The 17-pound, 6-month-old boy wiggled with eyes open and smacked his lips, according to his mother.
Then at 2 p.m. today, a medical staffer at Texas Children's Hospital gently removed the breathing tube that had kept Sun Hudson alive since his Sept. 25 birth. Cradled by his mother, he took a few breaths, and died.
"I talked to him, I told him that I loved him. Inside of me, my son is still alive," Wanda Hudson told reporters afterward. "This hospital was considered a miracle hospital. When it came to my son, they gave up in six months .... They made a terrible mistake."
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. A similar case involving a 68-year-old man in a chronic vegetative state at another Houston hospital is before a court now.
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