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The calls & emails to Joel Martin paid off yesterday!

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

See this URL Letter from NHPCO re Conference on Aging for this letter, dated March 10th.

The White House Conference on Aging occurs once a decade to make aging policy
recommendations to the President and Congress, and to assist the public and private sectors in
promoting dignity, health, independence and economic security of current and future generations of
older persons.
The theme for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, October 23-26, 2005 in Washington,
D.C. is “The Booming Dynamics of Aging: From Awareness to Action,” which reflects the unique
mandate of the 2005 WHCoA to focus on the aging of today and tomorrow. This group includes the
78 million baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), who will begin to turn 60 in 2006. The
theme highlights the changing face of aging in the United States encouraging Americans of all ages
to participate in developing plans for aging generations now and in the future.
Both NHPCO’s upcoming Policy Forum and the free Caring Connections pre-conference seminar at
the Clinical Team Conference are official WHCoA events and as such, the findings will be shared
with a much broader audience and have a greater impact on future policy considerations for our
aging population.
Beyond official events, 1200 individuals will serve as delegates to the 2005 Conference. Delegates
to the Conference will have the responsibility for presenting recommendations to the President and
Congress to help guide aging policies for the next decade and beyond. The delegates will represent:
• Governors of all 50 states, the U.S. Territories, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the
District of Columbia (2 per Governor plus another 100 “at large” apportioned by state size)
• National Congress of American Indians
• Members of the 109th Congress (1 per Senator and 1 per Representative)
• National aging and other allied organizations, academic institutions, business and industry, nonprofit
and veterans’ organizations and other entities with a stake in the aging of America.
Applications for these slots will be sent out later this year.

A conference just ended in Germany on palliative care had as its theme "Beyond the Border" See for yourselves: http://www.eapcnet.org/Aachen2005/in/index.html

There are all kinds of things going on. Look up the articles just published in the NEJM. Also see the NIH goings on last December. http://consensus.nih.gov/ta/024/endoflifeintro.html#sponsors The last paragraph is a winner:

"Experience in Conducting Research Among People Toward the End of Life

Palliative care is a difficult field for research as much of this state-of-the-science conference will demonstrate. There are design, methodological, and ethical difficulties of conducting research, problems in recruiting and sustaining a research community, and a shortage of experienced academics in the field. This occurs at a time when there are greater than ever opportunities for international communication and coordination with technologies that sometimes make it easier to link between London and Washington than between Washington and Texas. For this reason, multicenter and international research should be considered and the NIH could play a pivotal role in encouraging such collaboration."

Hospice stats and research: http://www.nhpco.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3274&openpage=3274

2005 is the year for activism.