[wagglebee]

But surely, John Paul II was referring to the right under Catholic moral teaching of patients and families to choose to forgo treatment — not the right of hospital ethics committee to impose such decisions upon the unwilling.

There is little or no difference between the law in Texas and Nazi Germany.

[wagglebee]

Pro-Life Ping

[wagglebee]

Texas Futile Care Law Ping

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Moral Absolutes Ping!

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Catholic Ping

[acapesket]

I only know about my state, but my experience tells me that folks need to understand the HIPpA law, a federal LAW passed a couple six years ago, which basically takes away anybody’s right to know anything about a family member’s health. You can no longer verbally express your family members wishes, tho’ you know them to be true.
Any Legal resident who walks into an American Hospital Without Power of Attorney and a HIPpA release for their care the EMERGENCY PATIENT is SCREWED.
I took care of both of my parents until 2004. My Mom died in ‘99 of Alzheimer’s.
It was okay to do anything to maximize her care as long as Dad was alive and considered the “primary Caregiver”. When my Dad was dying of a deadly form of Adenocarcinoma of the Lung, I had to travel with a full folder of copies of releases for him at 5 different hospitals. They could tell me all about his treatment at that point, BUT I always had to make sure each time we checked in.

My entire family decided then and there that we would have these files in every Local Hospital that we could possibly be admitted to in case of an accident.

This was my Dad’s idea.

He was a “General Practitioner” from 1945 until 1999.

He always said.. June 6, 1965 the Day that Medicine as we knew it was over.

That was the first implementation of MEDICARE/MEDICAID.

[mouse_35]

The law now is better than what was happening before it was passed. Prior to then Gov. Bush getting this law passed, the patient was removed from life support without the family having a chance to find an alternate care facility.

[sionnsar]

AAM, what is your take on this?

[Moonmad27]

I’m all for a law to limit it. Medical care can do a lot - but some people want everything done for basically free (to them at least) and forever.

[sarasmom]

I am certain someone will correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand the Texas law (as opposed to Florida law) futile medical care under hospital care decisions involve much more than merely deciding not to provide a terminal patient with basic nutrition/hydration and comfort measures, generally known as palliative care, during a natural death process.

I do not see how anyone can fault the Catholic Church, or Texas law, for their reasoned stance here.

Futile methods involving sustained extreme artificial medical interventions that needlessly prolongs death are wrong, if there is no rational medical basis to believe the extraordinary medical procedures performed, will produce any outcome other than prolonging the patients painfull death.

This stance should not be confused with medical institutions refusing to provide the most basic palliative care to a person who is dying from a medically incurable condition.

[metmom]

The tough part is knowing when you’re really doing something worthwhile or just keeping a dead body from dying. I’m all for doing what is necessary to keep someone alive when they clearly are alive and during short term medical crises but somewhere along the line, someone has to decide if that person is really dead or not.

I have a friend whose child was born brain dead. The child was put on machines to keep it alive, but organs were slowly deteriorating anyway, so they made the decision to just turn off the machines and let things take their course. Many people were praying for that child and for a while, we thought that miracle might happen, but it didn't.

I'm as pro-life as they come and I think what they did to Terri and what they do to others is inexcusable, but sometimes the decision has to be made. However, I certainly would not want it made by a hospital *ethics* committee whose only ethics is tied to money. And I certainly hope and pray that I'm never in the situation of having to decide.

[RebelTex]

bttt

[RKBA Democrat]

“There is little or no difference between the law in Texas and Nazi Germany.”

The problem that I have with all this is that an unelected, unvetted committee appointed by an organization that has a clear financial interest in the outcome is deciding whether someone should be forcibly taken off medical care or not. In my view that’s a denial of due process.

Much as I don’t like the courts being involved in these things, I find that preferable to some sort of hospital star chamber.