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Texas Hospital Seeks to End Life of Conscious Patient, Says Mother
Breitbart Texas ^ | 12/06/2015 | by Lana Shadwick

Posted on 12/06/2015 9:39:14 PM PST by Rusty0604

A Texas mother claims a hospital is seeking to end the life of a her son who is a fully conscious patient. The patient’s mother says that a hospital administrative death panel is “Playing God” in deciding whether her son has the “quality of life” to live.

Her son, Christopher David Dunn, 46, a fully-conscious former peace officer, is receiving life-sustaining care. Hospital officials in Houston are fighting to stop that care.

The man, his mother, and his lawyers, have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to save the man’s life. His attorney, Joe Nixon, told Breitbart Texas, “A criminal on death row in Texas has more rights than a patient in a Texas hospital.” He says a Texas statute denies a patient all due process rights and is unconstitutional.

A video (below) made by Ms. Kelly on December 2nd and produced with the help of a Houston-based pro-life organization, Texas Right to Life, shows that Dunn understands the questions asked of him, and he communicates that he wants to live.

Dunn is a former sheriff’s deputy and has worked as a Homeland Security officer but had no health insurance when he got sick. He has been in the hospital for eight weeks since a noncancerous mass was found where his small intestine connects to the pancreas. Ms. Kelly says the mass is squeezing off the small intestine and is affecting his liver and kidneys.

“When they found out that Chris did not have insurance, they said they were done,” Chris’ mother claimed.

She says the hospital wants to turn off the breathing machine and administer a dose of morphine and another drug she did not know the name of. She was told it would take only three to five minutes for Chris to die if the drugs were administered.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: deathpanels; life; police; prolife; texas
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To: lee martell

She’s got a lawyer, but TeWas law says the hospital, not the patient, gets to make the decision.


41 posted on 12/06/2015 10:58:31 PM PST by Rusty0604
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To: Rusty0604

Scary. I saw the video. This man is fully alive, even physically coordinated enough to show expression.
Two points;I’m surprised he has no insurance after two law enforcement jobs.
Secondly, he would be better off in a long term care facility, what they used to call Convelescent centers.
The hospital wants their bed and their room back.
They are not going to change.


42 posted on 12/06/2015 11:09:01 PM PST by lee martell
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To: Timpanagos1

Sign him up for Obamacare. No preexisting condition restrictions, remember?


43 posted on 12/06/2015 11:11:14 PM PST by John Valentine (Deep in the Heart of Texas)
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To: lee martell

“I thought this sort of case was what Obamacare was for, where you could never be judged for preexisting ailments.”

Do you remember that conversation he had where he told a woman it might be better for her grandmother to “take a pill” than have surgery? I suspect this is more of same.

On the flip side I don’t think you can actively kill a conscious patient who doesn’t consent. I think there might be some information missing here.


44 posted on 12/06/2015 11:11:43 PM PST by PLMerite (The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: Rusty0604
She was told it would take only three to five minutes for Chris to die if the drugs were administered

Another point of contention. They can come up with a drug cocktail to put him out in 3-5 minutes, but mess up the drugs to put a criminal to death. What gives with that?
45 posted on 12/06/2015 11:16:43 PM PST by wbarmy (I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.)
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To: Rusty0604
Here is something most persons including myself up until this year don't usually know. There are very few long term care facilities in the U.S. who take long term Ventilator Dependent patients. Many will do short term because a ventilator was meant to be a machine to assist breathing during healing when recovery to the person being able to breath on their own was expected.

It takes 24/7/365 specialized staff to care for a Ventilator patient. Most facilities meaning nursing homes can not afford the cost. When my wife in March was told C.O.P.D. and bacterial pneumonia related to her quadriplegia would make her ventilator dependent the rest of her life we learned this. It wasn't a matter of what the doctors wanted. They tried many times using the scope to suction her lungs. They told us the truth her body mechanics would fail off the respirator. Two choices were given and No they did not rush a decision. Instead they kept trying to save her. Two choices were being sent to a nearest Ventilator Care long term facility 500 miles away and maybe she would survive the transport or doing a Trach and sending her home or if she wished in patient hospice which she told me going back home was her choice.

The doctor explained to me why few long term ventilator patient facilities exist and it's not the reason most persons would assume. He said in his experience he didn't know of a patient who so desired to live in that manner. He said most don't wish to be done like that and he didn't himself.

Vents take away the persons voice. They can't talk. They can't eat or drink. It means having a suction tube ran through you up to 20 times a day being suction which that in itself chokes you. It means you never go home and you never leave the facility.

I am 100% absolutely pro-life. I am just explaining some of this so others who may face this down the road can understand.

46 posted on 12/06/2015 11:19:08 PM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
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To: chuckles
Terri Schiavo. She was awake and responsive. She was executed without breaking any law by a probate judge like deciding who gets the silverware. Some of the Constitutional types that are anal about Ted Cruz, know that to be executed, you must first be found guilty of a capital crime. I'm sick of people saying she had a bad life they they wouldn't want to live. They don't have a vote.

Some huge differences. She likely could have been cared for at home with her family being trained. She was not on a Ventilator. Ventilator dependent changes things greatly in long term care. It can not be done at home nor in most nursing homes.

47 posted on 12/06/2015 11:25:09 PM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
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To: John Valentine

That was my first thought, too. Why isn’t he being signed up for Obamacare? Then he’d have insurance.


48 posted on 12/06/2015 11:25:52 PM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: Rusty0604

This is outrageous. Speechless.


49 posted on 12/06/2015 11:27:18 PM PST by kelly4c
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To: hoosierham

[[So he is being EXECUTED for the lack of health insurance??]]

imagine the uproar from the left if the man was a refugee or illegal immigrant


50 posted on 12/06/2015 11:27:40 PM PST by Bob434
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To: Rusty0604; AllAmericanGirl44; Armen Hareyan; B4Ranch; Balata; Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi; ...
Dunn is a former sheriff's deputy and has worked as a Homeland Security officer but had no health insurance when he got sick. He has been in the hospital for eight weeks since a noncancerous mass was found where his small intestine connects to the pancreas. Ms. Kelly says the mass is squeezing off the small intestine and is affecting his liver and kidneys.

When they found out that Chris did not have insurance, they said they were done, Chris' mother claimed.

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51 posted on 12/06/2015 11:28:11 PM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: kvanbrunt2

Yes it was an insurance problem. As the article stated, “Dunn is a former sheriff’s deputy and has worked as a Homeland Security officer but had no health insurance when he got sick.”


52 posted on 12/06/2015 11:28:24 PM PST by jonrick46 (The Left has a mental disorder: A totalitarian mindset..)
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To: funfan

[[What happens if the take him off the breathing tube don’t give him the drugs would he be able to live?]]

No- this is why his family is suing because it would kill him to be taken off it seems


53 posted on 12/06/2015 11:28:49 PM PST by Bob434
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To: wbarmy

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we should send our death row inmates to this hospital. They will get the job done.


54 posted on 12/06/2015 11:31:06 PM PST by Rusty0604
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To: jonrick46

A distant relative was found to have a cancerous tumor recently. They won’t go in to remove it until she puts $1500 down. And she has insurance. It’s just not very good I guess. But really, I’ve never heard of having to pay for a life saving procedure with a down payment!


55 posted on 12/06/2015 11:31:10 PM PST by kelly4c
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To: joshua c

Be reasonable. The hospital has spent so much money caring for illegal aliens without insurance, they can not possibly afford to take care of a US citizen. /s
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Correct - sort of beat me to the ‘punch’

I was going to suggest he be taken out of the hospital to the nearest gas station or 7/11, put a gun in his hand and have him ‘rob’ the place.

At least in jail they will take care of him ...

Got all the money for addortakadicttome or give Viagra to inmates (one of my favorites) but can’t take care of people who genuinely need it.

Notice on the tube when they advertise the canes/chairs/walkers etc they ‘tell’ you just ask if you are elibible, WE will take care of ALL the paper work etc ...

My cynicism kicks in wondering how much each unit is costing US?


56 posted on 12/06/2015 11:37:32 PM PST by xrmusn ((6/98)"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." --Voltaire".)
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To: cva66snipe
I'm pro life and totally against euthanasia...

I feel there is a lot more to the this story that we don't know...

seriously, a non cancerous tumor near his pancreas put him on a ventilator?....what kind of ailment is that?...

and I wonder what other family members are thinking?...sounds like there is discord in the family about this...

57 posted on 12/07/2015 12:16:19 AM PST by cherry
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To: hoosierham

Sorry, that is the wrong interpretation of the situation. An execution is when an otherwise healthy individual is killed. In this case, the natural course of this condition / illness is death. Withholding treatment would allow the normal progression of the condition. In essence, it is the active vs passive response. “Execution” implies an action taken to end the life.

Note that I am not objecting to your position. In my opinion this is no different that treatment for a heart attack or pneumonia and as such, life saving treatment should be applied. However, their is the question of who pays for the treatment.


58 posted on 12/07/2015 1:23:49 AM PST by taxcontrol ( The GOPe treats the conservative base like slaves by taking their votes and refuses to pay)
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To: lee martell
I thought this sort of case was what Obamacare was for,where you could never be judged for preexisting ailments.

That was meant for homosexuals with AIDS, so the rest would pay for their drugs, for all those mentally and emotionally challenged welfare kids, and urban crackheads going to rehab for the umpteenth time, not for heterosexual cancer survivors and the like.

59 posted on 12/07/2015 1:27:40 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: All

Texas HS Code 166.046:

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/txstatutes/HS/2/H/166/B/166.046


60 posted on 12/07/2015 1:43:59 AM PST by Drago
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