Houston family seeks to protect life of ailing patient | Texas Right to Life

Houston family seeks to protect life of ailing patient | Texas Right to Life

What is happening in Texas seems to happening here in Canada.  If you do not agree with the medical team they will take away your Representation Agreement etc. and give it to a third party (PGT)  who will agree with the medical team to put down the one you have a fiduciary duty to in favour of death against a patient's wish.  This is what Vancouver Coastal Health did to me and I live in British Columbia, not Texas.

See the video. https/youtube.com/watch?vFquofEeo

If a patient does not agree to die, he will be declared incompetent and so will his surrogate.  We do not need an euthanasia law, we already have it.

by Texas Right to LifeFriday, December 04, 2015

Houston, Texas- December 4, 2015:

In November, Methodist Hospital delivered a letter to the mother of David Christopher Dunn, “Chris,” confirming plans to remove and withdraw medical treatment at the end of ten days.  Because Chris is intermittently conscious due to sedation, his mother is acting as his Medical Power of Attorney.  

However, Methodist has invoked the statutory process found in the Texas Advanced Directives Act (TADA-Chapter 166.046 of the Health & Safety Code), which allows the hospital to override medical directives of a patient and provide only ten days’ notice before withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.   Dunn’s only recourse is to find another facility that will offer him an ICU bed – a daunting task on a rushed time frame for anyone, but even more so for patients without insurance such as Chris. 

Chris is an American hero, who has served his community and the nation as an EMT, a police dispatcher, a Harris County Sheriff, and a Homeland Security employee.  Chris even fought Somali pirates as part of a security team.  Rather than protecting Chris’s Right to Life, the state of Texas is rewarding his lifetime of selfless service by relinquishing him to a hospital panel who have judged his quality of life too low to merit continued treatment.

Tragically, this is the way countless Texans have lived out their final days since 1999, when TADA unconstitutionally bestowed on healthcare facilities authority over Life and death.

Doctors who decide their patients’ cases are “futile” – regardless of their motive or reasons for doing so – hold the power to remove patients from medical treatment or to issue a Do-Not-Resuscitate order on the patient, even if such action is against the expressed wishes of the patient or his surrogate. 

If the patient or his surrogate cannot find a transfer facility willing to take the patient within that ten-day period, there is no appellate process for the decision of the hospital panel.  In other words, hospital panels have the right to decide which medically vulnerable Texans live and die. 

Texas Right to Life has assisted Chris’s family in navigating this legal labyrinth to ensure that he continues to receive care.  As a result of Texas Right to Life’s advocacy, Methodist Hospital agreed to extend the time for Chris, and the family was granted a two-week extension by a Harris County judge.  Yesterday, a second two week extension was granted.

However, yesterday Methodist Hospital also filed an injunction seeking custodial guardianship of Chris.  If granted, this injunction would legally prevent his mother, Evelyn, from fighting for the rights of her son.  The family has released a video in which Chris clearly communicates that he wants to live and that he wants his lawyers to continue to fight for his life.  

Since Evelyn would not succumb to pressure from the hospital to impose death upon Chris, Methodist’s lawyers are now trying to remove Evelyn from Chris’s bedside and from his medical care.  The hospital is attempting to neutralize her ability to protect the life of her 40-something year old son.

The Office of the Attorney General sent a strong message that the law could not be defended if challenged, stating that the OAG would not be involved in the case.  Chris’s attorneys plan to file a constitutional challenge to the law.  This cannot take place if Evelyn’s rights to speak for her son are stripped and the ill-intended hospital garners all control over the care, treatment, and life of Chris.

Why is Houston Methodist Hospital trying to take Chris's life? | Texas Right to Life

Why is Houston Methodist Hospital trying to take Chris's life? | Texas Right to Life

by Texas Right to LifeWednesday, December 09, 2015

Last week, we alerted supporters and media to the harrowing ordeal of American hero Chris Dunn at Houston Methodist Hospital, where administrators are fighting to remove him from life-sustaining treatment.  Texas Right to Life has been at the helm of efforts to save Chris, and we have seen a tidal wave of support – along with thoughtful and poignant questions – from our friends.
 
Chris was admitted to Methodist Hospital over eight weeks ago, and the hospital is currently withholding diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment for Chris’s ailment because they have arbitrated that Chris’s life is no longer worthy of care – even though Chris and his family disagree with that conclusion.

Chris’s case seems unbelievable to many Texans who cannot imagine that our state boasts a law allowing hospitals to remove patients from life-sustaining treatments against their will.  Sadly, this is exactly what the Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA), passed in 1999, permits.  Rendering Chris’s case even more shocking is video documentation, filmed in his hospital room last week, of Chris pleading for his life to attorneys who are fighting the hospital’s directive on his behalf.

Under TADA, in Section 166.046, Texas Health and Safety Code, a hospital can take away treatment from a patient (conscious or unconscious) against his will, his advance directive, or his Medical Power of Attorney.  The hospital only is required to give the family 10 days’ notice before removing treatment, but the process for patients in these situations to find another facility that will provide care often takes weeks.  We have been working to secure care at a different facility, but the law inhibits this process by imposing impossible deadlines and the hospital has abandoned efforts to treat Chris, further delaying the transfer.

The law is barbaric and gives faceless hospital panels the sole authority to take a person’s life instead of empowering patients and families to make their own decisions about their care.  Essentially, the law not only allows Chris to be killed against his will, but also hinders our ability to help him live.  Pro-Lifers have long warned of the dangerous death panels which threaten to become commonplace under Obamacare.  Because of TADA, Texas has served as a tragic example of what this kind of legislation looks like in action for the last sixteen years.  No other state has as merciless a statute as the Texas Advance Directives Act.  Only Virginia has a similar law, which, unlike in Texas, remains rarely if ever invoked.

Many have asked what Chris’s medical diagnosis is.  In short: no one – including his doctors – knows.  This is not because Chris is suffering from an inexplicable illness, but simply because his physicians refuse to investigate his symptoms to find a cause.  Chris was admitted with a mass on his pancreas which, to date, the hospital has not biopsied. 

What we do know about Chris’s medical state is that he is not brain-dead; he is conscious and responds to commands and answers questions by nodding his head and waving his arms.  He has persisted in his condition with little change since his admittance at Methodist two months ago.  Chris’s condition may be treatable, but the hospital has discriminated against Chris by ruling treatment futile based on an arbitrary “quality of life” judgment, and they have done this without even investing due diligence in diagnosing him.

The hospital has not predicated this decision on Chris’s inability to pay.  Instead, the hospital has focused on subjective quality of life judgments as the reason for denying Chris life-sustaining care.  Although he did not have insurance when admitted, Chris is eligible for emergency Medicaid, and Chris is receiving other treatment at Methodist.  

The issue at hand is the hospital’s insistence on removing Chris from a ventilator, which would kill him.

Wielding the power over Chris’s life, the hospital has myriad options available to them.  Houston Methodist could reverse the decision to invoke TADA and allow Chris to live on his own terms.  They could biopsy the mass on his pancreas and initiate a treatment plan.  They could continue treating Chris without a deadline pending his transfer to another facility – whenever that can be achieved.  But the hospital has eschewed these alternatives and stubbornly clung to their intention of ending Chris’s life. 

Last week, the hospital petitioned a court to allow them to usurp the authority of Chris’s mother as his Medical Power of Attorney and instead name an unknown staff member at Houston Methodist as Chris’s custodial guardian – all in an effort to ensure his demise.

The provisions of the Texas Advance Directives Act have ravaged vulnerable hospital patients and their families long enough.  Please help Texas Right to Life save Chris by contacting Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom at 713-441-2671 or mboom@tmhs.org, and sign our petition to #HelpChrisSeeChristmas here.  Then, alert your family and friends to Chris’s situation by participating in our December 15 Thunderclap, and using the hash tag #HelpChrisSeeChristmas on social media.

Finally, we must work to ensure, through legislative change, that Texas hospitals do not impose unjust death sentences as any more patients.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has affirmed that the Texas Advance Directives Act is legally indefensible, and Texas Right to Life has spent the last several Legislative Sessions working to overturn the statute.  But rogue Republicans have consistently upended these efforts.  That’s why we must elect thoroughly Pro-Life leaders in the 2016 election.  We can protect Life from fertilization to natural death; will you join us in the fight? 

The day Randy should have died.

Today is the 18th of November, the anniversary of when Randy should have died.  I remember it with clarity.  When |I asked Dr. Dunne to remove the DNR/DNT hours before, he told me that he would consider it after he returned from his trip to Prince George...the horror of it all and there is no relief for me...
 

Randy Michael Walker and the College

I keep thinking about Randy and why he had to die when he did.  Why VCH decided that his death should be hastened because it was in Randy's best interest. Randy should have died on November 18 2013; the near death incident could have been prevented if Dr. Dunne would have removed the  DNR Order a few hours before when I asked him to. Randy never agreed to a DNR.  I told staff that this was not what Randy wanted and for them to ignore the November 15, 2013 DNR.  The night nurse made a terrible mistake.  He knew Randy was dying and instead of waiting until he died he phoned me and I rushed to George Pearson Centre.  When Randy saw me he was reaching out for me to save his life.  Since he had a purported DNR/DNT on him, the staff refused to do anything.  I phoned 911.  Chaos.


Because of my intervention I was able to save Randy's life. Mostly he needed a vent assist.  As soon as Randy was stabilized I contacted the police as I believed that Dr. Dunne by putting on a DNR Order was somehow criminally culpable (attempted homicide) and notified the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons.  VGH Emergency and the ambulance people knew of what happened as well as the police as 911 attended.


Considering the seriousness of my allegation and the seemingly apparent culpability of Dr. Dunne, the College should have immediately suspended Dr. Dunne pending an investigation. Yes, the College has the power to suspend a doctor in the public interest. I also asked that Dr. Dunne be replaced as Randy's doctor and this request was refused. Dr. Dunne should have reclused himself.  The only reason that I even knew of the DNR/DNT was that I asked a nurse on November 15 2013, what Randy's status was, and I was showed the DNR/DNT Order signed by Dr. Dunne. On 14 November 2013 Randy was in VGH and his status was Full Code, Level IV. Randy was 57. He had no disease nor was he in pain.


After that, VCH went on a further sojourn to discredit and demoralize me claiming that I did not have Randy's best interest and I was incapable to be Randy's substitute decision maker.   VCH took this to the Public Guardian and Trustee and VCH stripped me and Randy of all his rights.  What was Randy's best interest.  Was it that his death be hastened.


After Randy died I wasn't able to access any of Randy's things as Randy was now the property of the Public Guardian and Trustee. He had become a non-person.  I wanted to place one of Randy's Steeler's baseball caps in his coffin as he wore a cap even when he was sleeping. The manager at GPC refused to give me one of his hats.  Randy was dead and GPC were still being bullies.


The College of Physicians and Surgeons' Decision said that Randy was among things too sick as he had a temperature of 39.9 rendering him incapable of making any medical decisions.  The Certificate of  Incapability was made (rubbered stamped on the recommendation of the PGT) by VCH who issued the CI on April 4 2014; the day Randy should have died was 18 November 2013; the day I was banned from ever seeing Randy again was January 29 2014 (with the help of the Public Guardian and Trustee).  I was never told that I was being investigated or that Randy was.


Because of my correspondence to the PGT, I thought the PGT was investigating George Pearson Centre and its treatment of patients there. One of my concerns was when I spoke to GPC patients there, they did not seem to know what a DNR was or whether or not a DNR/DNT was on them.


The PGT complaint against me was mostly based on collateral evidence (parallel gossip). All my supposed legal rights to Randy were taken away from me by the Public Guardian and Trustee on April 4, 2014 ( but in reality it was January 29 2013 as VCH 100% banned me from seeing Randy) the day I was to access his medical records so I could find out what was going on and such records were denied me by the PGT.


I really do not know what Randy died from. Maybe his death could have been prevented at that time. Months later the coroner changed the alledged cause of death from multiple organ failure to say Randy died from his accident, an accident that happened in 2010. What a stretch. He was readmitted to VGH on 4 April 2014 (my mother's birthdate). The day Randy died was 13 April 2014.


I was acting in Randy's best interest for him to live and have a quality of life and VCH et al did everything possible to discredit and demoralize me (and Randy) while saying that I was not good for Randy and I should never see him again. This questioning of my goodness happened in January 2014; prior to that I was good.  How scared Randy was. He couldn't talk or write so he could not ask questions or defend me. How horrible for Randy knowing that VCH was trying to hasten his death and and how horrific it was for me knowing I could not save him.  My bereavement will never end.


Randy was only 53 years old when he had his accident, he had a traumatic brain injury in 2010, he had no disease, he was not in pain. Randy had a trach so he could not talk. So why did VCH want to hasten his death and ban me from ever seeing him again.


A DNT Order is a Do Not Transfer Order so if a patient is in medical distress the patient would not go to acute care (VGH) for treatment. As far as I am concerned it is a death sentence.  The DNT was a guarantee that the nurses would not even attempt to overrule as it was a Doctor's Order and they were instructed not to call 911 or even phone the doctor-on-call if Randy was in acute medical distress.



Audrey Jane Laferriere
5976 Cambie Street
Vancouver, B.C.
V5Z 3A9
604-321-2276; 778-689-2276
audreyjlaferriere@gmail.com
refer to blog: voiceofgoneballistic

P.S.  There is a medical-legal battle going on in Texas over a law that Texas has in which it can without explanation put a DNR on a competent conscious patient and disconnect life support against his wishes.  And the hospital is now making application to take away his mother's substitute decision making power.  I suspect such powers are also replicated somewhat here in Canada (BC) sub rosa (under the rose, secrecy) or worse yet in open sight.

see video of Chris Shaw http:://youtube.com/watch?vFquofEeo.
TexasRighttoLife.com

On my way home from demonstrating last Wednesday, an older Asian gentleman wanted to know as he could read part of my sign, what euthanasia meant.  Since his English wasn't very good, I explained that it means that if you are sick you can ask a doctor to kill you.  His immediate retort was: he won't ask a doctor to kill  him, he would just jump off a building.  I then explained that jumping off a building might be painful and euthanasia would guarantee that he would have a sure, safe and painless death. We were then at KingEdward and he had to exit the Canada Line.

I was just listening to CNN and it talking about Joe Biden and his decision as to whether or not he will run for president.  It seems it is okay for Mr. Biden to be emotionally shattered by his son's death but when I asked for an appeal for time to the decision that Randy's doctor was absolved from putting an illegal  DNR on Randy, I could not be emotionally upset. According to the Health Professions Appeal Board that wasn't a good enough reason why I missed the appeal date. In addition, I did not even get the decision from the College of Physicians and Surgeons until after the 30-day to appeal period and that was my problem as well. The College did not object to my appeal; it was Harper Gray, the dark solicitors for the doctor.

audreyjlaferriere@gmail.com
5976 Cambie Street
604-321-2276
blog: voiceofgonebalistic.blogspot.com

Cambie and Broadway

Today was such a beautiful day I took Owen and we went with my demo signs to Broadway and Cambie and Laurel area for a few hours.  I felt very positive as a number of citizens stopped to talk to me about euthanasia and how patients are treated at VGH.  All the time I have been demonstrating since April 1 2015 I have yet had to confront a citizen who showed anger to my cause.

The same problem is what do you do or where do you go if you have a dispute  I still do not know.  But I always get possible feedback by citizens for doing what I am doing.  They always thank me.  Eventually a small critical mass will form and the health authorities will have to listen to us.

When I go on the street I always take a book with me and I read sitting next to Owen on the grass boulevards. .  I do not approach anyone, I let my demo signs do that.  At the moment I am reading a New York Times best seller callled Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care (2012). It was what I was doing when Randy was ill.  One of the serious complaints I received was that I sent over 1,000 emails to the health authority however not one of them were given to the College of Physicians and Surgeons so they had no idea what I was doing is what Unaccountable says what hospitals are doing in the United States letting patients doctors and nurses communicate with each other by emails.  Our health authority belongs in caves.  The reason the health authority won't answer emails is because they are afraid of being accountable and then they lie and say they answered my emails face-to-face.If it is not written down it did not happen.  What I do not understand is why the College did not demand to see the emails and if they did they would only see my concern for my loved one and wanting to know what is happening and why is it that they refuse to follow what John Hopkins Hospital recommends as best practice.  One nurse told me that the health authority said the nurses were not allowed to read anything medical from the internet as VGH had their own protocols written decades ago (because of cost cutting the protocols must be out of date). And the protocols are proprietary and I was not allowed access to them.  When is education closed to patients or their representatives. A patient or his advocate should audit everything that is happening.  It is no longer acceptable to leave patients in the dark with paternal Father Knows Best 1950s garbage.
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I write this as it is a public interest for the public to know what is really happening in our health system.

The below from Euthanasia Prevention Coalition September 30 2015

The practice of euthanasia is very different than euthanasia in theory.

In reality, legalizing euthanasia gives doctors the right, in law, to cause the death of their patients. The decision to lethally inject a patient is made by two doctors without third-party oversight and the doctor is required to report their decision after the patient has died.

The concept that euthanasia is about individual choice and autonomy is only a theory.

In other jurisdictions there is proof that the law is misused, that lives are ended without request, that the reporting procedure is intentionally ignored, and that euthanasia is regularly ending the lives of people who are depressed and/or incompetent.

In theory euthanasia appears to offer freedom; in reality, legalizing euthanasia is not safe.

all what I write is for public interest

 



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Stockholm Syndrome and Vancouver Coastal Health

I keep thinking of how Vancouver Coastal Health and I became at odds.  They were the oppressors and they relied on the Stockholm Syndrome to cancel out their psychological harassment (like a wife batterer).  I succumbed to this so many times that VCH just continued their bad bahavior, an amusement on their part.  A game they always win.  I have asked since 2011 for an independent investigation as to VCH's behavior and in 2015 I received an email from Richard Singleton that he had investigated my concerns.  Richard is not an independent investigator he is a mental health worker who is an expert at using the Stockholm Syndrome to control risk even if that meant discrediting others. This man who was responsible for Randy's life and investigating my allegations of non treatment and illegal DNRs finally made the decision that VCH did nothing wrong (at least, not in his mind).

Randy was chronically ill.  VCH did not have to hasten his death.

Stockholm syndrome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Stockholm syndrome (disambiguation).

Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.^[1][2] The FBI's Hostage Barricade Database System shows that roughly eight percent of victims show evidence of Stockholm syndrome.^[3]
Stockholm syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other."^[4] One commonly used hypothesis to explain the effect of Stockholm syndrome is based on Freudian theory. It suggests that the bonding is the individual's response to trauma in becoming a victim. Identifying with the aggressor is one way that the ego defends itself. When a victim believes the same values as the aggressor, they cease to be perceived as a threat.<sup>[5]

audreyjlaferriere@gmail.com
604-321-2276
5976 Cambie Street
 Vancouver BC   V5Z 3A9
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Donations to keep blog going and to fund legal fees to sue those doctors responsible for putting illegal DNRs on Randy appreciated.  This isn't personal; this is a public interest issue wherein all of us should know how the health system is taking advantage of us..</sup>