Posted on 03/21/2005 12:23:45 AM PST by ambrose
Life support battle winds down, patient transferred to San Antonio hospital
06:37 PM CST on Sunday, March 20, 2005
By Amy Tortolani / 11 News
A man who had been on a respirator at St. Luke's Hospital arrived at a new facility Sunday in San Antonio. While the life support battle appears to be winding down, this situation could eventually involve lawmakers.
Watching the ambulance pull away from St. Luke's Hospital with Spiro Nikolouzos in it was not only a victory for his family, but another chance at life.
"I am so happy that this happened that he is out of here," said Janette Nikolouzos, patient's wife.
Spiro Nikolouzos has been an invalid since 2001 and complications last month left him unable to breathe on his own.
St. Luke' Hospital had planned to take the 68-year-old man off life support.
"This has never been an issue about St. Luke's or anyone that works at St. Luke's wanting to take this man off life support," said Dr. David Pate, St. Luke's. "It's been about what's best for him and should we be forced to continue providing care to someone that we think is futile and we think may be hurting them and ultimately, will make no impact on the quality of life."
Mrs. Nikolouzos fought to keep her husband alive and took St. Luke's to court.
After many extensions and stays, but before a final decision was ever reached, the family found a facility in San Antonio to care for their loved one.
"Free at last free at last. You didn't get to kill him," said Janette Nikolouzos.
But it's not the end of this life support case. Mrs. Nikolouzos is ready to take on Texas lawmakers who have given hospitals the right to remove patients from life support after giving 10 days notice, unless there is clear evidence another facility can provide care.
"They are out of control to make a law like this, it's shameful," said Janette Nikolouzos. "The way I feel for them giving so much power to the doctors and the hospitals they should bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich. It's disgraceful for this state.
Family members said while they won this battle, they admit the father and husband they knew will never fully recover. But at least now, they say, there's a chance.
There is supposed to be another court hearing on Wednesday, but the family's attorney said there is a conference call scheduled with the judge Monday.
Here's the "slippery slope" the pro-Terri people have been worried about.
This wasn't a family member making the decision, it was a bunch of over-educated euthanasia providers in lab coats that wanted to do this.
"They are out of control to make a law like this, it's shameful," said Janette Nikolouzos. "The way I feel for them giving so much power to the doctors and the hospitals they should bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich. It's disgraceful for this state.
Socialism is on the march....
It is the slippery slope to socialism. These people want the hospital to treat the man for free.
Exactly what I was worried about - but I was thinking of the liberals being the deathmen - not the medical people.
Hold on now....
They weren't paying the bills? No insurance?
The doctors get to decide, courtesy of a law signed in 1999 by Governor George W. Bush.
That's OK, though. Just get Congress to intervene. They've already greased the skids.
There are plenty of situations like this they can't wait to get in the middle of.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3094699
March 20, 2005, 10:37PM
Facility takes in man on ventilator
Change of heart by San Antonio home ends the fight between his family, St. Luke's
By TODD ACKERMAN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
A Friendswood man in a persistent vegetative state was transferred to a nursing home in San Antonio on Sunday, ending a battle between St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and his family over whether to take him off life support.
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At 7:30 a.m., Spiro Nikolouzos, 68, was hooked up to a portable ventilator, feeding tube and other support lines and taken by ambulance to Avalon Place, which had rejected his application just nine days before. Facility officials confirmed his arrival about 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
"Thank God that was an ambulance taking Spiro to another health care facility, not another car taking him to a funeral home," said Nikolouzos' wife, Jannette. "I can't tell you the relief and excitement I feel that my husband is still alive."
Dr. David Pate, St. Luke's chief medical officer, said he was "very surprised" Avalon Place agreed to take Spiro Nikolouzos — more than 30 facilities had rejected him — but that he is glad the matter has been resolved to the family's satisfaction. The hospital's ethics committee had argued continued care would be futile and inhumane.
The surprise relocation capped three weeks during which the Nikolouzos family and St. Luke's looked for an alternative facility to accept him and the family's lawyer filed one temporary restraining order after another to prevent the hospital from pulling the plug. Nine days ago, one of those orders was granted just a few hours before St. Luke's planned to act.
Avalon Place officials would not explain their change of heart Sunday, but Pate and family members said they understood that someone from Avalon Place's corporate headquarters intervened late Friday to give permission.
The Nikolouzos matter and another involving a 6-month-old baby, whose mother last week failed to stop Texas Children's Hospital from withdrawing life support, shone a light on a fairly new Texas law that allows hospitals to discontinue such care 10 days after notifying family members.
The Nikolouzos controversy dates to March 1, when St. Luke's gave the Nikolouzos family notice it planned to take him off a ventilator and remove his feeding tube. Five days later, the family's lawyer, Mario Caballero, announced he would ask a judge to stop the hospital.
Nikolouzos, a retired electrical engineer who suffered brain damage in a motor vehicle accident more than a decade ago, has been in a persistent vegetative state since at least 2001, said Pate. Until Feb. 10, his wife took care of him at their home, feeding him through a tube inserted through his side into his stomach. But when the area around the tube began bleeding, he was rushed to the hospital, where his condition seriously deteriorated and he was placed on a ventilator.
Jannette Nikolouzos acknowledged at one point last week that "he was never like this" before.
Pate, able to talk about the case for the first time Sunday, said the case was particularly hard on staff because there was no possibility Nikolouzos would ever improve, even with around-the-clock care. Nikolouzos' serious complications include constant infections and ulcers that penetrate all the way to bone and muscle atrophy that has left him rigidly curled up in a fetal position. Pate said it is hard to believe that hospital hygiene efforts necessary to prevent infection don't physically hurt the patient.
"He's unaware of his surroundings, he can't eat, he can't speak, he can't move any of his extremities," said Pate. "I can't imagine anybody in his condition wanting extraordinary means of life support to be kept alive."
But Jannette Nikolouzos expressed happiness that "Spiro got out of that execution chamber that is St. Luke's."
Pate said payment for Nikolouzos' care was never an issue for St. Luke's, contrary to claims by the Nikolouzos family.
Payment for Nikolouzos' care at Avalon Place was thought to be an issue; Caballero said in court a week ago that the San Antonio nursing home turned down Nikolouzos because his Medicare was about to be reduced.
No one could answer Sunday whether that matter has been resolved.
Nikolouzos' wife and son, who plan to visit him today, said they don't know what the future will bring, beyond regular trips to San Antonio.
But they said it is preferable to the alternative.
"We're just thankful to anyone who helped my husband stay alive," said Jannette Nikolouzos.
I don't like this at ALL.
The DOCTOR gets to decide whether you live or die?
However, it should not be incumbent on the taxpayer to support a terminally ill person.
This can get really complicated.
A chance at what?
Current technology can keep people with no hope of survival alive for a very long time.
Why not submit this to a de novo federal review?
Ultimately, he always does.
Who supports the person is beside the point. Are you in favor of keeping terminally ill people alive indefinitely?
Just insane.
It is not this Doctor's place to "imagine" what his patient wants.
Pate said payment for Nikolouzos' care was never an issue for St. Luke's, contrary to claims by the Nikolouzos family. Payment for Nikolouzos' care at Avalon Place was thought to be an issue; Caballero said in court a week ago that the San Antonio nursing home turned down Nikolouzos because his Medicare was about to be reduced.
This guy is on Medicare, correct?
In that case, it is no more "socialized medicine" than that which is already preacticed here in the USA.
Again, this decision should be up to family memebers, not the hospital staff.
Get over here. We need a Spiro Nikolouzas bill!!
I am if the family is paying for it. Their decision, not mine, and not a doctors.
Governor George W. Bush didn't think so when he signed the bill giving hospitals in Texas the right to do this.
I have seen many "conservatives" on this forum argue that money should be no object to health care for Terri or anyone else. Socialism. Nothing more than socialism. The only difference is it is Theocratic Socialism instead of Atheistic Socialism.
You've joined the FR death squad, Deacon.
That's a fine punctuation to your entire career here.
We'll have to agree to disagree.
Terminally ill people will die soon enough. If the family will pay for their care, or if there is insurance, I am willing to let the family decide.
Why should a doctor be forced to treat someone he thinks to be a hopeless case, regardless of whether he is being paid or not?
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