A life or death struggle is taking place at St. Luke’s Hospital (Texas), where doctors are planning to remove life support from Andrea Clark despite her family's wishes. Wesley Smith comments:
It is as if Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers wanted Terri's care continued but the hospital said no....A woman's life hangs in the balance and her family asserts she is responsive. Yet, an independent board without public hearings or accountability is able to determine her fate.Note that the treatment is apparently being removed because it works, not because it doesn't--which means, in effect, that the hospital ethics committee has declared the patient's life to be futile.
Texas has a terrible law that permits an unelected, self-appointed, anonymous ethics committee to forcibly remove care. Once that happens, the patient has 10 days to find another hospital. These are closed proceedings. I am unaware of any records kept of the evidence presented at the hearings or the deliberations.
Update: Action Item Here
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