Where's the consistency?
Pursuant to state law, the doctors pulled little Sun Hudson's breathing tube Tuesday. The 6-month-old, born with arms, legs, and lungs that were too small due to dwarfism, wiggled in his mother's arms, gasped for a few breaths, and died.
The physicians at Texas Children's Hospital told Sun's mother, Wanda Hudson, time and again that his condition was incurable, that her son would never be able to live free of tubes, that it was only a matter of time until his inevitable death arrived. She refused to believe them, hoping beyond hope that something, someone, anything could save her son. Forty other hospitals declined to offer care to Sun, saying further treatment would be pointless. To the very end, Hudson pleaded with hospital officials not to pull the plug on her baby. They did it anyway.
Hospital staffers had the legal right to remove Sun's breathing tube due to a 1999 Texas law signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush. The law allows doctors to end a patient's care when a hospital ethics committee finds that further treatment would be futile, even if the patient's family objects. Under the law, family members get 10 days after a committee's futility finding to try to find another hospital to accept their loved one, but if they can't find a willing facility, or if they can't pay for the treatment, the plug gets pulled, no matter how vigorously the family disagrees.
Where was Bush's "presumption in favor of life" when he signed that law? Where were the defenders of Terri Schiavo when Sun's life was on the line last week? Where were the years of impassioned legal appeals on Sun's behalf? Where was the emergency, last-minute congressional intervention before Sun breathed his last?
Wanda Hudson just lost her son. She'd like some answers.
The physicians at Texas Children's Hospital told Sun's mother, Wanda Hudson, time and again that his condition was incurable, that her son would never be able to live free of tubes, that it was only a matter of time until his inevitable death arrived. She refused to believe them, hoping beyond hope that something, someone, anything could save her son. Forty other hospitals declined to offer care to Sun, saying further treatment would be pointless. To the very end, Hudson pleaded with hospital officials not to pull the plug on her baby. They did it anyway.
Hospital staffers had the legal right to remove Sun's breathing tube due to a 1999 Texas law signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush. The law allows doctors to end a patient's care when a hospital ethics committee finds that further treatment would be futile, even if the patient's family objects. Under the law, family members get 10 days after a committee's futility finding to try to find another hospital to accept their loved one, but if they can't find a willing facility, or if they can't pay for the treatment, the plug gets pulled, no matter how vigorously the family disagrees.
Where was Bush's "presumption in favor of life" when he signed that law? Where were the defenders of Terri Schiavo when Sun's life was on the line last week? Where were the years of impassioned legal appeals on Sun's behalf? Where was the emergency, last-minute congressional intervention before Sun breathed his last?
Wanda Hudson just lost her son. She'd like some answers.
posted by Alabamian at 7:00 PM
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