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Hospital rules to unplug baby girl
Posted by Raven on May 6th, 2005
Down in Texas the state can decide to pull the plug on your life. No matter what your wishes are or the wishes of people who represent you. Here we see a baby is about to have her stuff pulled:
In Houston’s latest end-of-life controversy, Memorial Hermann Hospital has decided to remove from life support a 6-month-old girl whose leukemia has spread to her brain.
The parents of Knya Dismuke-Howard, who also has multiple-organ failure and a life-threatening antibiotic-resistant infection, vowed to fight the decision. Under Texas law, they have eight days remaining to find another facility to take her.
“I think she can beat the odds,” said Tamiko Dismuke, the baby’s mother. “She’s a fighter. The hospital’s given up on her, but everyone who’s witnessed her through this has been amazed at how she keeps coming back.”
Dismuke said the family hasn’t hired a lawyer or decided to take legal action but may still do so. She said their first priority is finding a hospital to take her.
Memorial Hermann officials said other pediatric hospitals they consulted concurred with their treatment plan and decision to discontinue care.
They said the infant, who is on a respirator, is suffering badly — she is on morphine and other opiates to relieve pain — and described her condition as hopeless.
The case is the third in Houston this spring to publicly test a 1999 state law that allows hospitals to discontinue treatment in futile cases 10 days after notifying loved ones of their intentions. The others involved a 6-month-old boy with a fatal form of dwarfism and a 68-year-old man in a persistent vegetative state.
May 9th, 2005 at 11:29 am
It’s just beyond comprehension to me that human life has so little value these days.