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Author Topic: Baby dies after hospital removes breathing tube  (Read 1486 times)
Lost Highway
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« on: March 16, 2005, 10:06:52 AM »
Case is the first in which a judge allowed a hospital to discontinue care

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3087387

By LEIGH HOPPER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The baby wore a cute blue outfit with a teddy bear covering his bottom. The 17-pound, nearly 6-month-old boy wiggled with eyes open, his mother said, and smacked his lips.

Then at 2 p.m. Tuesday, a medical staffer at Texas Children's Hospital gently removed the breathing tube that had kept Sun Hudson alive since his birth Sept. 25. Cradled by his mother, he took a few breaths, and died.

"I talked to him, I told him that I loved him. Inside of me, my son is still alive," Wanda Hudson told reporters afterward. "This hospital was considered a miracle hospital. When it came to my son, they gave up in six months. ... They made a terrible mistake."

Sun's death marks the first time a U.S. judge has allowed a hospital to discontinue an infant's life-sustaining care against a parent's wishes, according to bioethical experts. A similar case involving a 68-year-old man in a vegetative state at another Houston hospital is before a court now.

"It's sad this thing dragged on for so long. We all feel it's unfair, that a child doesn't have a chance to develop and thrive," said William Winslade, a bioethicist and lawyer who is a professor at the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Paraphrasing the late Catholic theologian and ethicist Richard McCormick, Winslade added, "This isn't murder. It's mercy, and it's appropriate to be merciful in that way. It's not killing, it's stopping pointless treatment."

The hospital's description of Sun — that he was motionless and sedated for comfort — has differed sharply from the mother's. Since February, the hospital has blocked the media from Hudson's invitation to see the baby, citing privacy concerns.

"I wanted y'all to see my son for yourself," Hudson told reporters. "So you could see he was actually moving around. He was conscious."

On Feb. 16, Harris County Probate Court Judge William C. McCulloch made the landmark decision to lift restrictions preventing Texas Children's from discontinuing care. However, an appeal by Hudson's attorney, Mario Caballero, and a procedural error on McCulloch's part prevented the hospital from acting for four weeks.

Texas law allows hospitals to discontinue life-sustaining care, even if a patient's family members disagree. A doctor's recommendation must be approved by a hospital's ethics committee, and the family must be given 10 days from written notice of the decision to try and locate another facility for the patient.

Texas Children's said it contacted 40 facilities with newborn intensive care units, but none would accept Sun. Without legal delays, Sun's care would have ended Nov. 28.

Sun was born with a fatal form of dwarfism characterized by short arms, short legs and lungs too tiny, doctors said. Nearly all babies born with the incurable condition, often diagnosed in utero, die shortly after birth, genetic counselors say.

Sun was delivered full term at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, but Hudson, 33, said she had no prenatal care during which his condition might have been discovered.

He was put on a ventilator while doctors figured out what was wrong with him, and Hudson refused when doctors recommended withdrawing treatment.

Texas Children's contended that continuing care for Sun was medically inappropriate, prolonged suffering and violated physician ethics. Hudson argued her son just needed more time to grow and be weaned from the ventilator.

Another case involving a patient on life support — a 68-year-old man in a chronic vegetative state whose family wants to stop St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital from turning off his ventilator — was scheduled to be heard Tuesday by the Houston-based 1st Court of Appeals. But the case was transferred to the 14th Court of Appeals, which promptly issued a temporary injunction ordering St. Luke's not to remove the man's life support. No hearing date has been set.


Chronicle reporter Todd Ackerman contributed to this report.

[a href=\"mailto:leigh.hopper@chron.com\"]leigh.hopper@chron.com[/a]
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« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2005, 10:35:33 AM »
What is so stupid about this, is that in the Terri Shaivo case, the reason they supposedly want to remove her feeding tube is because that was her supposed wishes.  Then there's this case where the baby can't tell you what he wants, so you would think it would be the parents wishes that they would go by then, but no the doctors are the educated ones on this and they chose to go by their ethics.  What about the parents ethics?
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« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2005, 10:35:33 AM »
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« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2005, 10:44:14 AM »
Even if you believe that it might be appropriate to terminate medical treatment against the wishes of the family in some situations,  this law is problematic because it leaves the decision in the hands of a party with a financial interest in discontinuing treatment - the hospital's ethics committee.   I'd bet a dollar if the family were able to pay,  it wouldn't be against physician ethics to continue the treatment.
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« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2005, 10:44:14 AM »
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« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2005, 11:59:26 AM »
I'd also bet it would be next to impossible to get a conviction if those who decided to kill this baby were also whacked.
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taller, better looking and smarter . . .

They turned me loose from the nervous hospital.  Said I was well.  Mmm hmm.

Suffering for your beliefs is called faithfulness, making others suffer for your beliefs is called being a jerk.

His cross, like the ark in the wilderness, is the center around which his people are to encamp; so that they cannot separate into factions, or withdraw from each other, without retiring at the same time from the presence of the cross.
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« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2005, 08:34:24 PM »
Nope.  If you went & whacked the people who made this decision, you'd go down.  Just like abortion doctor shooters.
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« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2005, 09:28:30 PM »
Yep, the guy who was hiding out, that blew up the abortion clinic in Florida, (I think), was being protected by people that lived near my Grandma and Grandpa.  He got caught and got in alot of trouble.
Some judges though might look at it as eye for an eye and be more forgiving.
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« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2005, 09:28:30 PM »
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« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2005, 01:15:45 PM »
It appears different from the murder of abortion doctors because the mother must be going along with the abortion.

This is different in that they turned their backs on the child against the wishes of the parents.  

I'm not saying it would be okay to whack the doctors, but I am of the opinion a conviction would be tougher to come by.  Instead of an abortion doctor killer in the stand explaining why he killed, you would have parents saying someone killed their child.  That's why it appears it would be tougher to guess what a jury would decide.

I can only imagine the emotional strain this has placed on the parents because I can't imagine someone doing one of my youngun's this way.

Sometimes I suspect this world isn't working the way it was created.  We must be fallen, or something.
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taller, better looking and smarter . . .

They turned me loose from the nervous hospital.  Said I was well.  Mmm hmm.

Suffering for your beliefs is called faithfulness, making others suffer for your beliefs is called being a jerk.

His cross, like the ark in the wilderness, is the center around which his people are to encamp; so that they cannot separate into factions, or withdraw from each other, without retiring at the same time from the presence of the cross.
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« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2005, 01:16:45 PM »
Quote
Yep, the guy who was hiding out, that blew up the abortion clinic in Florida, (I think), was being protected by people that lived near my Grandma and Grandpa.  He got caught and got in alot of trouble.
Some judges though might look at it as eye for an eye and be more forgiving.
Are you talking about Eric Rudolph?
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taller, better looking and smarter . . .

They turned me loose from the nervous hospital.  Said I was well.  Mmm hmm.

Suffering for your beliefs is called faithfulness, making others suffer for your beliefs is called being a jerk.

His cross, like the ark in the wilderness, is the center around which his people are to encamp; so that they cannot separate into factions, or withdraw from each other, without retiring at the same time from the presence of the cross.
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« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2005, 01:29:07 PM »
I don't remember his name.  Were you helping him hide out by you there?  Confused
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Mere Nick
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« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2005, 06:57:05 AM »
Quote
I don't remember his name.  Were you helping him hide out by you there?  Confused
He was picked up by some cop over in Murphy at the western end of the state.  Seems the cop spotted someone rummaging through a dumpster behind a grocery store and it was him.

Since it took a real long time to find Rudolph, I haven't been surprised at how long it is taking to find Osama.
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taller, better looking and smarter . . .

They turned me loose from the nervous hospital.  Said I was well.  Mmm hmm.

Suffering for your beliefs is called faithfulness, making others suffer for your beliefs is called being a jerk.

His cross, like the ark in the wilderness, is the center around which his people are to encamp; so that they cannot separate into factions, or withdraw from each other, without retiring at the same time from the presence of the cross.
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« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2005, 06:57:05 AM »
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« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2005, 04:41:06 PM »
Quote
Even if you believe that it might be appropriate to terminate medical treatment against the wishes of the family in some situations,  this law is problematic because it leaves the decision in the hands of a party with a financial interest in discontinuing treatment - the hospital's ethics committee.   I'd bet a dollar if the family were able to pay,  it wouldn't be against physician ethics to continue the treatment.
I think you're right. :banghead:
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« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2005, 02:00:04 AM »
Psalm 10:1-18

1 - Why, O LORD , do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 - In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.

3 - He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

4 - In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

5 - His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies.

6 - He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble."

7 - His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.

8 - He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims.

9 - He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

10 - His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.

11 - He says to himself, "God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees."

12 - Arise, LORD ! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.

13 - Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, "He won't call me to account"?

14 - But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

15 - Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.

16 - The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.

17 - You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18 - defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
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