There is a woman at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital here in Houston that needs help.
In January, the 54-year-old underwent open-heart surgery. The next month she developed bleeding on the brain. Now an ethics committee has recommended removing her ventilator and taking her off life support. But her family is fighting to stop that despite not having the law on their side.
Her story was originally posted by her sister, Melanie Childers at the DemocraticUnderground.com. John Hawkins has picked up the story and contacted several people involved.
The hospital ethics committee met the day before yesterday and concluded that Andrea’s treatment (respirator and dialysis) should be discontinued. We have ten days to move her from that hospital or they will “pull the plug” and let Andrea die. Andrea, until a few days ago, when the physicians decided to increase her pain medication and anesthetize her into unconsciousness, was fully able to make her own medical decisions and had decided that she wanted life saving treatment until she dies naturally. We have learned that this is part of the process, when hospitals decided to declare the “medical futility” of continueing treatment for a patient. But, this is not a Terry Schiavo case; not anything like it. Andrea, when she is not medicated into unconsciousness (and even when she is, and the medication has worn off to some degree) is aware and cognizant. She has suffered no brain damage to the parts of her brain responsible for thought and reason, or speech. She has only suffered loss of some motor control. The reason that the physician gave to medicate her so much is that she is suffering from intractable pain in the sacral region (in other words, she has a bedsore that causes her pain). This is not reason enough, in our books, and we are trying, as we speak, to get Andrea’s medication lowered so that she can speak to us.
According to John, the attorney representing Ms. Clarke is Jerri Ward of Garlo Ward, a law firm based in Austin. Ms. Ward has added this information:
I had her look over this post and she did confirm all the details and added a few more. She said that Andrea Clarke is a widower, with a 23 year old son, and she does not want to die…
The deadline for Andrea Clarke is Sunday and Jerri said she’ll be exploring “all legal avenues” in an effort to stop it, but because of the way the law is written in Texas, she’s not confident she can get Andrea Clarke into a new facility before St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital terminates Andrea Clarke’s medical care.
It looks like there was a call to protest this weekend which Ms. Childers said, “is very likely to be filmed and get news coverage”. To be honest, I haven’t seen anything about the case on the local news.
This doesn’t appear to be a case where the patient’s wishes are unknown or unclear. It appears from the posts that Andrea Clarke is well aware of what is happening and has made it perfectly clear she wants to live.
Here are some contact numbers if you would like to speak your mind on the subject. Maybe a large outcry will help Ms. Clarke’s fight.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital
6720 Bertner Avenue
Houston, TX
Phone: 832-355-1000
Email
Mayor Bill White
City of Houston
P.O. Box 1562
Houston, TX 77251
Phone: 713.247.2200
Fax: 713-247-1067
Citizens’ Assistance Office
900 Bagby, Public Level
Houston, TX 77002
Richard Cantú, Director
Phone: 713-247-2907
Marvin Zindler
ABC Eyewitness News
Pat Gray
Talk Radio Host
KPRC 950AM
Michael Berry
Houston City Councilman
Sam Malone
Talk Radio Host
KTRH 740AM
Chris Baker
Talk Radio Host
KTRH 740AM
My prayers are with Ms. Clarke and her family.
Update: KHOU is now covering the story.
Update 2: I’ve exchanged emails with the attorney, Jerri Ward. I’ve put a call into other attorneys in Houston that might assist with the filings and helping Ms. Ward navigate the Houston courthouse. If any of my readers can offer such assistance, please contact me a.s.a.p. As this case progresses, you’ll no doubt hear a lot about the 1999 Texas Advance Directives Act. It seems to need some major overhauls. I’ve offered my assistance to Ms. Ward, who is serving on the Advance Directives Coalition which is looking at the law to make changes. Here is Ms. Ward’s blog and specifically her post regarding the “Texas Futile Care Statute“.
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Others covering the story:
Wizbang | blogHouston | Michelle Malkin | IMAO | Lifelike Pundits | My VRWC | Blue Crab Boulevard | BlogsforTerri | Chez Diva | Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
