The Chronicle‘s Todd Ackerman reports that St. Luke’s Hospital has backed off plans to terminate the care of a patient under the Texas “futile care” law:
St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital decided Tuesday to keep treating a severely ill heart patient, ending a two-week battle with the woman’s family over the hospital’s plan to take her off life support.
The revocation of the plan follows the involvement of a new doctor, found by Texas Right-to-Life, who hopes Andrea Clark can be rehabilitated to the point where she can be transferred to another facility.
“The odds are against her,” acknowledged Dr. Matthew Lenz, the doctor assuming Clark’s primary care. “She’s in critical condition and any new complication could be life threatening, but we’re going to give her a fighting chance.”
In a statement, St. Luke’s said it will continue “an aggressive search” for a facility to treat Clark long-term.
The case, the second in a week in which a Texas hospital backed off plans to take a patient off life support, shined a light on a controversial state law that gives hospitals such authority. Ongoing meetings aimed at reforming the law in the 2007 Legislature are being held in Austin.
“The discussion of these cases is going to produce changes in the law,” said Greg Hooser, an Austin attorney and consultant leading the meetings. “In hopes of making the law better, we’re looking at safeguards to prevent problems that have arisen.”
The law could stand some changes.
