Cease and Desist Order in Andrea Clark Case

As a patient of St. Luke's Hospital in Houston, TX, Andrea Clark is in an extremely precarious position.

Andrea, 54, suffered complications following open heart surgery that left her dependent upon a ventilator and dialysis for survival. Although her motor control faculties were damaged, according to her family, her cognitive abilities were unaffected.

On April 19, St. Luke's informed Andrea's closest kin that her medical care would be discontinued in 10 days; an ethics committee decided to "pull the plug" in a flagrant act of (passive) euthanasia. Andrea has insurance and wants treatment. Her current doctor says "no".

Through the efforts of many, the hospital and family developed a plan to transfer Andrea to a medical facility in Chicago, one suggested by St. Luke's. However, shortly before Andrea's transfer was scheduled to take place it fell through; the second treatment center did not have the necessary means to care for her.

Now Andrea's life hangs in the balance and at any time St. Luke's could end her life by withholding treatment. A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss her fate and the possibility of another physician or facility, but there is nothing in writing.

Consequently, Andrea's attorney, Jerri Lynn Ward, is serving St. Luke's with a cease and desist order on Monday. Here is an electronic copy that we obtained:

Continue reading "Cease and Desist Order in Andrea Clark Case" The cease and desist order is scheduled for Monday.

Thank you for posting that update. This from the same link, http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2006/05/good_news_about_1.php

Update 2: From Andrea's attorney, Jerri Ward:
I want to let you know that St. Luke’s is doing the right thing in this case now. The physician team met with the new attending and it went well. The team is on board and the medical futility procedure has been stopped. For the time being, Andrea will continue to receive life-sustaining and appropriate treatment at St. Luke’s.
St. Luke’s, and the involved physicians, are to be commended for reconsidering and deciding to continue Andrea’s care.
In a follow-up email, Jerri wrote:
Thank YOU and everybody who helped, including pro-life bloggers, Terri Schindler’s family and all your readers. God Bless you all.

Just got the following from Texas Right to Life:

Andrea Clark Will Live!

Texas Right to Life has been working for the last three weeks with the family of Andrea Clark, a patient at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, who was slated to have all life-sustaining treatment (including food and water) removed against her wishes on Sunday, April 30th. This decision was made by Andrea's primary physician and then approved by the St. Luke's ethics committee—chaired by a prominent Houston abortionist. With mounting pressure from the public generated by Andrea's family and pro-life activists, St. Luke’s arranged to transfer Andrea to an acute care facility in Illinois rather than withdrawing care. (See the transfer story in the Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3826053.html.)

However, minutes before the transfer was to occur last Friday, April 28th, St. Luke’s realized that the Illinois facility was not adequately equipped to care for Andrea. Andrea's family was distraught to think that Andrea's life would be hanging in the balance at a facility that considered her life futile and effectively wanted her dead. The attorneys began some fast talking, and the withdrawal of Andrea's treatment was indefinitely postponed.

On Tuesday, May 2nd, the treatment team at St. Luke's convened to further discuss Andrea's condition and treatment plan. At this meeting, Dr. Matthew Lenz, a physician with privileges at St. Luke's, transferred Andrea's care into his own hands. Dr. Lenz became involved at the request of Texas Right to Life and has since taken a personal interest in protecting Andrea's life. His goal is to nurse Andrea back to a point where she can then be transferred to another facility for further rehabilitation. Andrea's condition is very fragile, and she requires a lot of specialized care, yet her condition is no justification for speeding her to her death by abruptly ending treatment and care that has been working. Dr. Lenz is now the new attending physician, and he has already begun to see improvements in her condition. Andrea must undergo a surgery tomorrow to have her septic gall bladder removed. Despite this surgery posing risks to Andrea's fragile condition, the remv While St. Luke's has not made this process easy, St. Luke's has now offered the full support of the administration and of other specialists to assist Dr. Lenz in caring for Andrea.

While the futility law and St. Luke's policy remain problematic, St. Luke's is now committed to preserving Andrea's life and confirmed that the futility statute will not again be invoked as long as Andrea is under Dr. Lenz’s care. Andrea would not be alive today if St. Luke's had not provided care and treatment for Andrea up to this point.

The heroes in this battle are Andrea's siblings and son who fought for her life and cried from every mountaintop for help. Please join Texas Right to Life in praying for Andrea's recovery and in thanksgiving for the moral courage exhibited by Dr. Lenz in challenging St. Luke's and dedicating his personal time to treat and protect Andrea.

Please forward any kudos for Dr. Lenz to ProLife@TexasRightToLife.com, and your praise will be forwarded to him.

Thank you for the update ping. Prayers for the family. It sounds like they did not remove the life support and she went naturally. My grandmother was in a coma for 3 months before she died. We fed her through a tube in her throat. She still died and we didn't starve her to death. That is why I vigorously defend those who can't feed themselves. There is no reason to stop basic humane care. If someone is ready to die they will go anyway. I realize this case may be somewhat different but I still don't think the doctors - who, rather they believe it or not, are NOT God - should have the power to make this kind of decision.

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