Texas Rainmaker » A Houston Woman in Need

A Houston Woman in Need
April 24th, 2006 9:02 pm

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“.

____________________________________

18 Comments »

Save Andrea Clarke

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has a heart wrenching story posted at Democratic Underground about Andrea Clarke whose doctors want to withhold treatment and allow her to die even though she is capable of communicating; however, she’s been medicated…

Trackback by Wizbang — 9:29 pm
[…] Texas Rainmaker has contact information for Houston politicians and media. I will be sending off emails to those on the list and contacting the others by phone. I hope you join me in doing the same. KILLING MY SISTER - WE ARE PROTESTING - HELP US […]

Pingback by chez Diva » Giving A Voice To Those… — 9:39 pm
[…] UPDATE: Texas Rainmaker with some VERY helpful contact info. Pile on, folks. Please. […]

Pingback by Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Murder By Medical Fiat? — 9:39 pm
The Sad Case Of Andrea Clarke

Yesterday, as I was perusing the Democratic Underground, I ran across a very troubling story. I’m reposting it here, so…

Trackback by Right Wing News — 1:38 am
Help save Andrea Clarke

Read this post written by John Hawkins (more here) to learn more about Andrea Clarke.
This case will bring to mind the sad story of Terri Schiavo, but there are several differences in this one: 1) she is a widower and her family wants her to live a…

Trackback by Sister Toldjah — 7:42 am
Another Life “Not Worth Living”

“Misery can only be removed from the world by painless extermination of the miserable.”
—a Nazi writer quoted by Robert J. Lifton in The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide
Here in Houston, a woman has been scheduled to …

Trackback by euphoricreality.net — 12:15 pm
There has to be more to the story. Patients’ lives are not in the hands of hospital ethic committees even in Texas. We have heard from the sister. What does the 23-year old son, BTW the one with real authority over medical decisions, say? This sounds to me like the Terri Schiavo case — with family members fighting and the hospital caught in the middle.

Comment by nk — 1:12 pm
I was wrong. http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/HS/content/htm/hs.002.00.000166.00.htm#166.039.00. That seems to be exactly the Texas law. I apologize. The hospital has the power to kill this poor woman against her wishes and the wishes of her family. Texas — the Fourth Reich.

Comment by nk — 1:32 pm
I concur with nk in wanting to know what the son has to say. I would also like to see what the hospital has to say, which can be had if the son provides a release for the hospital to speak publicly on the case. I’d also be interested in knowing if the lawyer, Jerri Ward, has a report from the hospital which she can shared in lieu of the time delay with a release for the hospital.

BTW, is Ms. Ward working for the son or the person who has guardianship, if it is not the son?

I have great sympathy for Melanie Childers’ situation and understand her emotional state well. The faster all the information comes out the faster a unified voice will coalesce with reason and argument on its side.

Comment by Dusty — 3:14 pm
[…] Texas Rainmaker My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Hyscience JackLewis.Net Right Wing News […]

Pingback by Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff » Blog Archive » Andrea Clarke: An Update — 3:58 pm
[…] Beth has new information on the Andrea Clarke case. Please go read the updates and if you haven’t had a chance to help - then please do so now. Write an email or make a phone call but please do something to help prevent St. Lukes Hospital from killing Andrea. Contact information for Houston politicians and the Media is here. Past posts: Giving A Voice To Those… […]

Pingback by chez Diva » Andrea Clarke - Updates — 3:59 pm
The family is not fighting over Andrea’s right to life, it is simply the hospital that has voted to discontinue life support. The son as I know is with the rest of his family. There is no disagreement with in the family over what needs to be done. The son is a young man who might lose his mother, his aunts and uncle are at his side supporting him.

Comment by Dana — 5:11 pm
You know - - there is much good that can come from this. And I pray that Andrea Clarke will receive the medical care she needs - so that - if it is God’s will - she might recover. But I find it amazing that people from both sides of the aisle are coming together over this. People on the left side of the aisle think that religious conservatives are crazy and people on the right side of the aisle think that progressive liberals are evil. So it’s all the more miraculous that a bunch of crazy, evil people can work together for good.

Comment by John Egan — 11:25 pm
[…] Other blogs covering this: Texas Rainmaker My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Hyscience JackLewis.Net Right Wing News Slobokan’s Site Schtuff […]

Pingback by Pursuing Holiness » Blog Archive » Blue Cross Blue Shield - Killing Andrea Clark for Profit? — 12:09 am
[…] Earlier this week, I posted about a Houston woman in need. Last night, I got an email from Jerri Ward, the attorney handling the case and she said they were “close to a transfer” for Andrea. […]

Pingback by Texas Rainmaker » A Life Saved and a Heart Changed… — 9:06 am
[…] May she rest in peace. ________________________________ Related: Andrea Clark Saga: “We’re Going to Give Her a Fighting Chance” A Houston Woman in Need Posted 11:23 am No Comments » […]

Pingback by Texas Rainmaker » R.I.P. Andrea Clark — 11:44 am
Keep up the great work on your blog. Best wishes WaltDe

Comment by WaltDe — 9:05 pm
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