Posted on 11/23/2009 12:24:50 PM PST by moonpie57
Edited on 11/23/2009 3:46:03 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
UPDATE, 3:45p: The ADF lawsuit and pro-life hubbub caused the "ethics panel" to decide today to formally agree not to withdraw care for Baby Gabriel. Thanks to all who reposted and called the hospital!
ADF writes:
The agreement between the hospital and Baby Gabriel's mother has not yet been put in writing. ADF attorneys are withdrawing their motion for a temporary restraining order but will not withdraw the complaint until a written agreement is finalized. Until then, the lawsuit is still active.
ADF legal counsel Matt Bowman said, "We are pleased with the ethic panel's decision but look forward to full resolution in writing so Baby Gabriel's life will no longer be in danger."
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The Alliance Defense Fund just filed an emergency injunction and restraining order in response to the decision a couple hours ago by an "ethics panel" at East Tennessee Children's Hospital to discontinue care of 9-month-old Gabriel Palmer.
According to an ADF press release:
Baby Gabriel was born prematurely with a genetic abnormality, club foot, and narrow airway, but he flourished when he went home from the hospital in June, where he grew, played, and received physical therapy while going to regular doctor visits. He was fed through a tube and received some oxygen and medications.
On an October weekend when the baby's regular doctors were unavailable, Palmer took her son to the ETCH emergency room because of breathing problems. After interventions by the medical staff, the baby went into shock, developed pulmonary vascular disease, and was placed on a respirator.
Despite the complications, Baby Gabriel is in stable condition, and an ETCH doctor determined he could live "a long while." The child is alert, active, and responsive when not sedated. In recent days while awake, he spent time kicking his feet, tried to play with his stuffed animals, listened to his mother and grandmother, and responded to his favorite music.
The ADF press release continues:
ETCH recently began giving up on Baby Gabriel's care, and on Nov. 13, the head of ETCH's PICU, Dr. Kevin Brinkmann [pictured right], told Palmer that the hospital was going to stop feeding him milk and giving him his medications, as well as disconnect his respirator, because the staff considered his care "futile."
Brinkmann said a formal "ethics panel" meeting at 12p EST Monday would determine whether to stop treating Baby Gabriel, but he noted that the decision was already a foregone conclusion. Ethics panel members have already said they will decide to cease the baby's care despite his mother's objections. ETCH's policies declare that treatment can be withdrawn over the family's objections as soon as the ethics panel makes its decision.
After doctors decided that Baby Gabriel was not worth treating, ETCH started discriminating against him by denying his basic care. Staff stopped bathing him, ceased applying cream to alleviate his chapped skin, reduced his diaper changes, and have not allowed his physical therapy. ETCH doctors have also discouraged Palmer's attempts to have her son transferred to other medical facilities where he could receive treatment.
ADF filed the motion for restraining order and injunction in Palmer v. East Tennessee Children's Hospital Association... which has set a hearing... for 3::30p EST Monday....
Call the ETCH Community Relations Office at 865-541-8165 to express your outrage. I just did.
This precious little one is going to BE Christmas this year, is she not? Stay strong there, dad. God is a God of love and compassion, and He wants your Emma back in your arms. Chin up!
bttt
Wrong. Did you miss where I said those who can take care of themselves should under penalty of law? We do not need some Obama/Pelosi/Reid boondoggle trillion dollar bill to help those who can’t.
It’s called Christian charity and worked very well in this country for many years.
Your reasoning is clear but unconvincing to most, I expect, because, on this issue, everyone wants to have his cake and eat it too.
If healthcare is a human right and a collective responsibility, then the decisions concerning what care to provide will also be collective. And all will get what the collective decides. Except, of course, for the rich, who will get whatever they want.
But if healthcare is another economic transaction, then decisions might remain between the patient, the family, and a trusted doctor, but some will get more and better care than others.
I prefer that we move in the direction of greater individual choice and responsibility. But that’s my predeliction generally.
“...I said those who can take care of themselves should under penalty of law?”
You mean like an individual mandate to purchase government-approved health insurance?
Thanks to 40+ years of liberal policies we are not there right now.
The Child however is (was) dying now.
So if the parent(s) cannot afford to pay and the coffers of charity are dry, what do you advocate?
I guess the question would be do you advocate pulling the plug based on cost.
The next question is what do you propose to do until we can reverse 40 years of liberal policy, what do we do until deregulation and taxes release the charitable world from it's grasp and the old balance returns?
Do you propose for those who fall into this gap that has and will continue to occur until we correct the situation a “too bad so sad” approach?
Do you say sorry, we the tax payers, the ones who sat here for 40 plus years and let us get in this situation now say that you will just have die because we have not fixed it yet.
Are you, as indicated by being so strong in you argument at this time in this thread about a child dying due to monetary concerns, saying that Alan Grayson and others on the left are correct, we Conservatives are heartless bastards more concerned with money and even more so concerned with being right that we could care less about people?
If so, please, do conservatism and the rest of us who want the Government totally out of the business of health care a favor and say nothing more on the subject. The left is working hard enough to paint us as cold and unfeeling as a means to further their agenda, we don't need folks on our side proving them right.
Jeff, your family is in my prayers. I hope she is home by Christmas!
I called and left a voicemail at this so-called children’s hospital. Sickening does not even begin to describe the abuse this child is being subjected to. The treatment of this entire family is.....it is just beyond words. I hope CPS is able to look into this and this family finds a great lawyer.
Thanks. Actually, Emma is my daughter's child. I'm "Papa".
The Bottom Line is that this one child is not more precious than any other child in the country and we know that as a society, we cannot afford to provide healthcare and critical medical treatment to every child.
Therefore, the tax payers should not be on the hook for this one child that has been deemed so special, but rather the family needs to raise the cash to pay the hospital bills.
I am sorry that you view me as a “heartless bastard,” but you are advocating a system of Socialized Medicine and I will stand by my principles and oppose any effort to force the tax payer to shell out the cash for everyone’s medical care.
I am all for any Christian Charity, Jewish Charity, Muslim Charity and secular charity that wishes to donate money to help save this child's life.
However, the medical care of this child, nor any other child, should not be the responsibility of the American tax payer.
And if the family and charities cannot raise the funds needed to care for this child, that responsibility should not fall on the American tax payer.
The hospital personnel do as they are instructed by higher-ups. Ther American people can’t understand something as basic as this being active murder any more than they could grasp the significance of starving Terri of FL to death.
The American people no longer understand the word “barbarian”.
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