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28 April 2005
Hospital to remove Houston man from life support
KTRK-13 posts an AP dispatch that checks in on Spiro Nikolouzos, who was mentioned in earlier blogHOUSTON posts:
A man in a persistent vegetative state whose family battled with a Houston hospital to stop his removal from life support is set to be removed from support Tuesday at a San Antonio hospital, his family said.
The family of Spiro Nikolouzos, 68, has vowed to keep him on life support and is trying to get him moved back to the nursing home where he was sent after leaving the Houston hospital. A nursing home official said Thursday they would take him back.
The nursing home will take him back and keep him on the life support his family wants. That doesn't seem particularly controversial.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/28/05 09:28 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
12 July 2006
Houston hospital invokes Texas futile-care law (cont'd)
Over the past weekend, the Chronicle reported on another instance of a local hospital invoking the Texas futile-care law in an effort to terminate care of a patient. As Todd Ackerman writes, this latest instance raises concerns we've expressed previously about this ultimate authority over life residing with a hospital committee:
Texas' controversial futile care law is at the center of a drama at Memorial Hermann Hospital involving a patient who suffered brain damage after her breathing tube became disconnected.
Doctors invoked the law, which allows hospitals to remove life support in cases deemed medically futile, two weeks later, after deciding 29-year-old Kalilah Roberson-Reese was in a vegetative state.
"This case raises questions of whether the law might be used to bury mistakes," said Jerri Ward, an Austin attorney who this week asked a judge to stop Memorial Hermann from withdrawing life support from Roberson-Reese. "At the very least, there is an appearance of a conflict of interest that should preclude a futility review committee from making a life-or-death decision before an independent investigation is made."
Dr. William Winslade, an ethicist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said the case "raises questions about how quickly these decisions should be made in the face of potential litigation."
The story indicates that the hospital has said it will hold off on terminating Roberson-Reece for a time, while the family tries to find a facility willing to accept her. There is further coverage from the Associated Press.
We've expressed concerns about the Texas futile-care law in previous posts about Andrea Clark and Spiro Nikolouzos, and in other posts. There's no real need to revisit that debate, but it does seem that Houston, with its fine medical facilities, is likely to remain ground central in the debate over the Texas futile-care law.
BLOGVERSATION: Pro-Life Blogs, Brothers Judd.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/12/06 11:28 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
03 May 2005
Life and death in Houston
KHOU-11 checks in on Spiro Nikolouzos, and reports that the man is being moved back to a nursing home with a pro-life orientation. We had previously noted the San Antonio hospital's decision to pull the plug on the Houston man here.
Also, the Chronicle's Todd Ackerman reports on Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D), who has asked a Houston-area hospital not to pull the plug on a terminally ill infant. Laurence Simon offers some thoughts on the Jackson Lee's sudden interest in end-of-life issues.
UPDATE (05-04-2005): The terminally ill infant above has died. Laurence Simon has further, concluding thoughts.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/03/05 07:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
21 March 2005
Feeling our way through the end of life
In what has turned out to be an increasingly popular post in light of recent events, we criticized a recent Houston Chronicle editorial for what seemed like a callously indifferent regard for innocent (albeit impaired) life.
In that editorial, the Chronicle trumpeted a Texas law in which hospitals may decide to terminate care of certain patients without regard to the wishes of relatives:
Texas law is considered among the most progressive in the nation and was designed to keep such cases out of court. It requires a hospital's ethics committee to approve a doctor's recommendations to remove life support if the patient's family or guardian disagrees. If the committee concurs, the hospital must wait 10 days before shutting off support in order to give the family time to seek an alternative institution willing to provide such care. The latest Texas cases occurred when no institution could be found to take over care of the patients.
This is touted by the same newspaper that gives us the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy as equitable, humane, and -- yes -- progressive.
Today, environmental writer Dina Cappiello weighs in to tell us this Texas law wouldn't "help" in the Terri Schiavo case. That's readily apparent, since the Schiavo case revolves around two parties competing to decide her care (with one working to terminate care) and courts trying to divine her intent without the benefit of a written directive, while the two Texas cases revolve around hospitals making decisions to terminate care against the wishes of family. Indeed, Cappiello later admits the law itself didn't actually help in the case of one Spiro Nikolouzos:
Nikolouzos' brain damage, on the other hand, is so severe he cannot breathe on his own or move, according to Dr. David Pate, St. Luke's chief medical officer. Over his wife's objections, the hospital's ethics committee decided to remove his breathing tube, setting in motion the 10-day period in which his family could move him to another hospital under the 1999 law.
A judge extended that period as the family tried to find another facility.
His wife ultimately did find another facility willing to take him on, but the law strictly interpreted didn't help him -- rather, a compassionate judge who had doubts about terminating the man after ten days granted enough extra time for the man's family to have him treated as they desired.
There's been some back and forth on various blogs as to whether the Schiavo affair merited federal intervention, especially given the existence of this Texas law signed by then-Governor Bush in 1999, and whether some parties are being hypocritical. Readers are welcome check out this blog post, to follow the links, and draw their own conclusions on that.
We've been consistent (since March 8) in our criticism of that original Chronicle editorial for the seeming ease with which the editors advocate state sanction for the termination of innocent life based on the judgment of "experts." When I was an undergraduate in Missouri, the "right to die" issue presented itself forcefully in the case of Nancy Cruzan. It's only 15 years later, and unsurprisingly we're still feeling our way through the legal and ethical issues involved in deciding about the end of life. In my mind, this Texas law does need to be revisited, in order more properly to balance the rights and desires of family members against medical corporations, and as Anne put it previously, to err on the side of innocent life.
UPDATE (03-22-2005): The Chronicle editorial linked above has vanished (despite working last night), and the newspaper does not archive its editorials. Fortunately, the google cache still has it (and my furl archive if that stops working).
UPDATE 2 (03-22-2005): Apparently, editorials are now archived, and are accessible if you have access to the archives. The google cache works as well.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/21/05 10:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
13 March 2005
Move Casey to the editorial page
We haven't had much to say about Chron columnist Rick Casey lately because his columns usually speak well enough on their own (that's not meant as a compliment).
From time to time, though, it's useful to point out the sort of nasty spin that Casey regularly puts in his columns, a spin that is frequently consistent with Chron editorial board positions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/13/05 09:49 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
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