Posted on 04/07/2005 2:59:57 AM PDT by schmelvin
For Immediate release! To: All media, and supporters of life. From: The Family of Mae Magouirk Date: April 6, 2005 Contact: Kenneth Mullinax - Mockingbird@compuhelp.net
Shiavo case revisited in Georgia
Mae Magouirk…not comatose …not vegetative …not terminal
Why is Hospice LaGrange, Ga. withholding nourishment?
(LaGrange, Georgia) Mae Magouirk is being withheld nourishment and fluids and the provisions of her Living Will are not being honored at the Hospice-LaGrange, (1510 Vernon Street, LaGrange “Troup County” Georgia, 706-845-3905) a subsidiary of the LaGrange Hospital in LaGrange Georgia. Her family is desperately seeking to save her life before she dies of malnourishment and dehydration.
Mae Magouirk IS NOT comatose and she IS NOT vegetative. She is not terminal!
Despite these facts the Hospice and Beth Gaddy, a school teacher at LaGrange’s Calloway Middle School and granddaughter of Mae Magouirk have been denying her proactive nourishment or fluids (via a nose administered feeding tube or fluids via an IV) since March 28 without prior legal consent; against the wishes of her Living Will and against the wishes of Mae Magouirk’s closest living next of kin. Mae Magouirk’s next of kin are: Mr. A. B. McLeod (Her Brother) and Mrs. Lonnie Ruth Mullinax (Her sister) both of nearby Anniston, Alabama.
Under Georgia law, unless a medical durable power of attorney is in place, your closest living next of kin are stipulated to make all medical decisions. When Mae Magouirk’s closest living next of kin lodged a complaint with Hospice LaGrange’s in-house attorney Carol Todd last Thursday, March 31, Ms. Todd checked Mae Magouirk’s case file and upon examination of both documents discovered that Beth Gaddy DID NOT have the durable medical power of attorney for Mae Magouirk and upon closer examination of Mae Magouirk’s Living Will ascertained that fluids and nourishment were ONLY TO BE WITHHELD if she was either comatose or vegetative. SHE IS IN NEITHER STATE!!!
Nor is Mae Magouirk terminally ill. Her local LaGrange, Ga. cardiologist, Dr. James Brennan and Dr. Raed Aqel, a highly acclaimed interventional cardiologist at the nationally renowned University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center have determined that Mae Magouirk’s aortic dissection is contained and not presently life threatening.
Two weeks ago, Mae Magouirk’s aorta had a dissection and she was hospitalized in the LaGrange Hospital in LaGrange, Ga. Her aortic problem was at first determined to be severe and she was admitted in the intensive care Unit. Her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, a teacher at the Calloway Middle School in LaGrange, stated that she held Mae Magouirk’s medical power of attorney and thus invoked said powers against the wishes of Mae Magouirk’s closest living next of kin by having her moved to Hospice-LaGrange. While at Hospice-LaGrange, Beth Gaddy stated that her wishes were for no nourishment for Mae Magouirk via a feeding tube or fluids via an IV. Before hospitalization Mae was lucid and never had been diagnosed with dementia as was testified to in Probate Court on Monday, April 4, by a local MD.
Page Two Mae Magouirk is being starved to death!
Upon learning from Hospice-LaGrange that Mae Magouirk was being denied nourishment and fluids and upon being told by Carol Todd (Hospice LaGrange’s in-house legal consul) that Beth Gaddy DID NOT HAVE THE PROPER LEGAL AUTHORITY to deny said nourishment AND that the denial of nourishment went against Mae Magouirk’s Living Will, Mae’s family (Mullinax/McLeod) ordered the immediate beginning of such nourishment/fluids for Mae to Hospice via Carol Todd.
First Contact with Hospice on Thursday, March 31 Carol Todd told Mrs. Lonnie Ruth Mullinax (Mae Magouirk’s sister) and Kenneth Mullinax (Mae Magouirk’s nephew) via phone on Thursday, March 31 that Georgia Law stipulated that Mrs. Mullinax and her brother A. B. McLeod (Mae Magouirk’s brother) were entitled to make any and all decisions for Mae Magouirk. Mrs. Mullinax immediately told Carol Todd to insert fluids via an IV and insert a feeding tube, via her nose. Carol Todd had the IV fluids started that evening but told the family that they would have to come to Hospice LaGrange to sign papers to have the feeding tube inserted and because of such, she believed that Mae Magouirk would no longer be a candidate for Hospice LaGrange. She was then told that Mae Magouirk’s family concurred and the ONLY REASON Mae was at Hospice was because the LaGrange Hospital had failed to exercise due diligence in closely examining the power of attorney which Beth Gaddy said she had, as well as executing the provisions of Mae’s Living Will to her preordained stipulations. Gaddy only had a financial power of attorney and did not have a medical power of attorney and Mae Magouirk’s Living Will provided that a feeding tube and fluids SHOULD ONLY BE DISSCONTINUED IF Mae was comatose or in a vegetative state. She was and is in neither state.
Attempt to rescue Mae on Friday denied by Probate Judge Donald Boyd On Friday, April 1, when A. B. McLeod (brother) and Kenneth Mullinax (nephew) showed up to meet with Carol Todd and to arrange emergency air transport of Mae Magouirk to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center (One of the top cardiovascular centers in the USA) Hospice LaGrange stalled them while Beth Gaddy went before Troup County Georgia (LaGrange, Ga.) Probate Judge Donald W. Boyd (who DOES NOT hold a law degree) who granted Beth Gaddy emergency guardianship of Mae Magouirk, giving Beth Gaddy full and absolute authority. Thus, they COULD NOT MOVE HER FOR PROACTIVE MEDICAL CARE Friday because Beth Gaddy had Hospice stop them and then she had Mae’s IV fluid tube pulled out. Beth Gaddy has repeatedly told Mr. McLeod, Mrs. Mullinax and Kenneth Mullinax that she feels they all should let Mae not eat and thus cause her to die because, and we quote Beth Gaddy: “Grandmamma is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus. She has glaucoma, and now this heart problem and who would want to live with disabilities like these?”
As stipulated under Georgia Law, a hearing for an Emergency Guardianship, must be held within 3 days of its request and Mae Magouirk’s hearing was held on this past Monday, April 4, before Troup County Georgia Probate Judge Donald Boyd who favors granting Beth Gaddy permanent guardianship and thus will seal Mae Magouirk’s fate of allowing Beth Gaddy to starve her to death against the wishes of her Living Will and in full knowledge that Mae Magouirk is not terminal, not in a coma and is not in a vegetative state and that medical care at UAB Medical Center is awaiting her. Shiavo revisited!
Mae’s present state and vital signs Mae’s blood pressure is good, averaging 140/82 with a pulse rate of 88. However, since admission to Hospice she has not been lucid but who would be since nourishment and fluids have been denied since March 28, 2005. Also adding to her confusion is that she is off her regular medicines and is on a dose of Adavan and Morphine. Without food or water her electrolytes and body chemistry is not within its proper parameters. If her condition is not given major public attention soon, she will die, not by divine cause but by the omission of assistance by man. WE MUST GET Mae moved to UAB Medical ASAP
Resources: Probate Judge Donald Boyd…Court CASE NUMBER: Estate 138-05 Attorney for saving Mae’s life: Jack Kirby, Kirby & Roberts***
I want to know what the medical term is for someone who is TERMINAL because they are refused hydration and nutrition...
What exactly is that "DISEASE"????
Another Mae Information Ping everyone:
From Tricky_k_1972 at post 1155, Here is a link to Free Audio: Glenn Beck interview with Kenneth Mullinax
http://www.glennbeck.com/audio/free-audio.shtml
Thank you for the reply, but I'm still not cewrtain as to the timeline: was a feeding/hydration tube inserted before being admitted to the Hospice, then removed, then re-inserted, then removed again under orders of the newly appointed guardian, the granddaughter? I need to have correct information as to when the tube was first inserted, when it was removed and under whose orders, then how long has MAe been without hdyration and nutrition presently, if she is now without any.
LaGrange Daily News
Woman, 81, at center of feeding tube feud Kenneth Mullinax, the patient’s nephew in Birmingham, Ala., said a hospice nurse told him that Magouirk had not received substantial nourishment since March 28. He wants a temporary feeding tube inserted until she can be evaluated for treatment at the University of Alabama Medical Center. A living will states that nourishment should be withheld only if she were in a coma or vegetative state with no hope of recovery.
Mullinax and the patient’s brother and sister – Lonnie Ruth Mullinax of Birmingham and A.B. McLeod of Anniston, Ala. – came here last Friday to arrange for a feeding tube and take her to the Birmingham hospital. That same day Gaddy received emergency guardianship in Troup County Probate Court.
At a follow-up hearing Monday, the parties reached a settlement that awarded guardianship to Gaddy provided three cardiologists – James Brennan and Thomas Gore, both of LaGrange, and Raed Aquel of Birmingham – evaluate the patient, who would receive whatever treatment two of the three recommended. A final decision had not yet been reached.
“They were all hugging necks when they left court,” said Probate Judge Donald Boyd. “I don’t know what happened.” Boyd said Gaddy testified at the hearing that she feeds her grandmother Jello, chips of ice and “anything else she’d be willing to eat.”
“I think all of Mrs. Magouirk’s family has her genuine best interests at heart, but unfortunately they disagree on what they believe would be best for her,” said Jack Kirby of LaGrange, attorney for the patient’s brother and sister.
“She (Gaddy) said, ‘I think it’s time she (her grandmother) goes home to Jesus, that’s she’s too sick and would not have a good quality of life,” Kenneth Mullinax said. His complaints have been posted on Internet Web logs that have been in overdrive since the Terri Schiavo case.
“All of the Terri Schiavo people have come to our rescue,” Mullinax said. “This thing’s going national.”
On Thursday, the Probate Office, West Georgia Health System and attorneys in the case were inundated with phone calls and e-mails.
“We need people surrounding that place (hospice), we need some activity,” one caller from Oregon told the Daily News, adding that she had called the governor’s office and attorneys in the case.
The probate office got an estimated 50 calls from people saying things like, “I understand y’all are murdering people in Troup County” and “You’re euthanizing people.” “We’re taking the posture of refusing to deal with those people because they’re not representing the responsible parties,” said West Georgia Health System President Jerry Fulks. “We’re focusing on taking care of the patient and her family.”
Fulks said he could not comment on an individual patient, but the health system’s policy calls for nourishment and hydration for hospice patients, sometimes through a feeding tube because of throat cancer or some other condition that prevents the patient from swallowing.
He said there is a “reverence for life that our staff and our physicians and our volunteers all adhere to in doing the jobs they do.”
Mullinax said his aunt does not have a terminal condition, which is a requirement for admission to hospice. Danny Daniel of LaGrange, the attorney for Gaddy and another grandchild, said doctors made the decision to admit Magourik into hospice.
Gaddy has been taking care of her grandmother for 10 years, he said.
“They’re following the doctors’ recommendations and they want to do what’s in the best interests of their grandmother,” Daniel said, adding that hospice is providing “excellent care” for Magourik, a widow with no children.
Gaddy could not be reached for comment.
“The doctors can make her very comfortable again and give her a normal life,” Mullinax said. “That’s all we want for Aunt Mae ... My aunt can’t live much longer without substantial fluids or nourishment.
“I want the world to know that at Hospice LaGrange you have people who are not terminal being denied nourishment as a matter of course. This national debate has reared its head in Troup County, Georgia. It’s the damndest thing I’ve ever seen.”
He said he will “pursue every available avenue” to get treatment for his aunt.
Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311 ext. 235.
http://www.lagrangenews.com/new.php?StoryType=full
WHERE IS THE LINK TO THE STORY IN THE LAGRANGE PAPER??
ANYONE HAVE IT HANDY??
When Marge fell ill the nursing home followed the order written on the document and denied her food and water for two weeks. But then something unexpected happened: Marge asked to be fed. A court battle ensued. The court gave permit to the nursing home to slaughter Marge by starvation and dehydration. The judge said that Marge was no longer legally competent to ask for food. The slaughter was permitted: the judge ruled that giving Marge the food she asked for would constitute "extraordinary means" of keeping her alive, and this would violate the contract Marge, herself, had written up prior.And, that prior assent to the contract -- the durable power of attorney -- was made when she was fully comptent the court ruled .
On what basis did the court consider her competent earlier and not later? Because earlier she had agreed to die, and later she decided to live.
In modern case law today, competency is presumptive for a death-wish and incompetency is presumptive against any expression claiming to desire life.
The law is the law. We must honor judges and the law.
Brian Sussman on KSFO (San Francisco) did a really good job covering Mae's plight and is going to put contact info on the website (I'm not sure whether that will be www.ksfo.com or www.briansussman.com) for listeners to help the family.
If you’d like to be added or deleted from this Ping List please freepmail me.
Another lady is being dehydrated and starved to death – AGAINST HER WRITTEN WISHES AND THOSE OF HER SISTER IN INTENSIVE CARE AS WE WORK!
eeevil conservative posted another message from Mae's nephew Kenneth at post 1206.
I am also copying her text here:
No matter what any of you may think about if Mae should die this way--
I just thought you all would like to know that Mae's sister is in ICU--
Kenneth has had a HARD DAY!
His mother told him- Don't worry about me today- go save my sister Mae.
He has done over 20 radio shows today.
If nothing else--
PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM!
THIS IS SO MUCH TO TAKE ON!
It's in the post above yours
That's what we need! Thanks!
If she had financial power of attorney, why would she need to do that?
I think the woman said it was prayer that led her to it. I suppose we could also be suspicious of prayer now.
I'm not saying she's honest and isn't lying...I'm just commenting that there's a lot of things we can't assume here.
You guys have much more patience that I. God Bless You both.
:)
than I
This would be a tragedy, I agree.
To me, though, it's less losing another life than losing a person.
Folks, this time I'm pinging to Post 1234 so that you can see a work pulled together by schmelvin. This contains a list of links to articles about Mae. It proves that people ARE being informed about Mae's horror.
That whole family is in my prayers, but I'll throw in some extra for Kenneth. He's working very hard.
Please know that the majority of FR supports you and your efforts. Fr is pro-life and for that we can be thankful.
Georgia Case Mirrors Schiavo Battle
WXIA-TV, GA - 16 minutes ago
Unlike Terri Schiavo, this patient had a living will, but her case is still tangled. Ken Mullinax's aunt, Mae Magouirk, suffered aorta damage in late March...
You've been busy!
I admire you a great deal for that admission. Many people would not have recognized that possibility. You respected him, as well as loved him, and it shows. My condolences.
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