There are reports that Andrea Clark is showing a great recovery after St. Lukes tried to kill her.
With the entry of a new doctor into the Andrea Clark case, the futility proceedings have been halted as she continues to improve.Euthanize the Texas "futile care" law, not the patients
"My sister is getting well", Melanie Childers jubilantly said Monday. "Her white blood cell count has been down to normal for the fourth day in a row now and she has been able to get off of the blood pressure raising drugs that she has had to be on for months. She is doing great. Her new doctor, Dr. Matthew Lentz, has also halved the amount of pain medications that she is taking so that she can talk to her family. He says that her condition is 'serious' but that she does have the ability to get much better."
"The futility proceedings are stopped now", Andrea's sister says. "Because this new doctor took over her case, it is all stopped. I'm so happy, I don't know what to think or say or do. Not only is my sister not going to be put to death by St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital but it also looks like she is recovering from her heart surgery, finally".
Disability rights advocates are questioning the law, which allows a physician to overrule a patient or their authorized decision-maker in denying wanted life-sustaining treatment.Please note, I support patients and family having the right to remove life sustaining equipment. I also support the ultimate right of suicide if that is a person's desire but feel it is nearly always a very bad choice. Some outrageous actions like this travesty at St. Luke's can make strange blogging and political bedfellows.
Futile care policies do not generally require that the treatment be objectively futile, but allow doctors to use subjective criteria such as quality of life judgments and even economic factors as grounds for denying treatment, according to the disability rights group Not Dead Yet.
"We think that all health care consumers should be questioning whether it's advisable, or even constitutional, for doctors to have this kind of power," said Diane Coleman, president of the organization.
UPDATE from - Democratic Underground and RightMom. Andrea is doing tremendously better although she has another operation scheduled tomorrow. Looks confirmed that she has been removed from "futile care" status.
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