Texas Law Allows Hospital to "Terminate" Patient in Spite of Patient's or Family's Wishes

“Right now, an American hero is fighting for his right to make that decision from his hospital bed at Houston Methodist Hospital. David Christopher “Chris” Dunn is one of countless Texans who have been victimized by the draconian Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA), enacted by the Texas Legislature in 1999. The law--which benefits the medical lobby and jeopardizes medically vulnerable Texans--protects the financial and discriminatory interests of hospitals and physicians by abrogating the civil liberties of patients. When a hospital or physician determines for any reason that they disagree with a patient’s decision about his or her own medical treatment and invokes TADA, Texas law protects those healthcare providers as they remove life-sustaining treatment from the patient even when doing so means overriding the patient’s desire and right to life--and even when the treatment is benefiting the patient. The law does not require that the hospital inform the patient or family about the reasons or basis for the removal of treatment, which could include financial reasons, discrimination, or subjective quality of life value judgments about the life of the patient. Chris, who has served Texas and the nation as an EMT, in the Harris County Sheriff’s office, and Homeland Security employee, received his death sentence when Methodist invoked the TADA statutory process last month. After the hospital announced that care would be forcibly removed from Chris against his will, Chris’s family contacted Texas Right to Life, and, with legal aid, an extension of the ten-day waiting period was secured.  ... A Harris County judge has granted two consecutive two-week extensions thus far, but Houston Methodist Hospital has countered these interventions with additional court filings to remove Chris’s mother from the process.  His mother, Evelyn, has been vigilant in protecting Chris since he is intermittently sedated. ... What makes the Texas Advance Directives Act even more despicable is the airtight power of the hospital to kill patients without any recourse to appeal the death sentence imposed by the hospital committee. That’s right--the final arbiter over the hospital’s fatal decision is the hospital!”

​“Striking video shows patient begging to stay alive,” LifeNews.com, Dec. 7, 2015

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Note: Before the pro-life group had a chance to get Dunn to a hospital that would provide him appropriate medical care and treatment, Dunn passed away on December 22, 2015.