Posted on 02/13/2013 8:25:19 PM PST by penelopesire
Forced Do Not Resuscitate Orders Coming to Texas? by Wesley J. Smith | Austin, TX | LifeNews.com | 2/13/13 12:23 PM
Good grief! The state with the worst futile care law in the nation now has legislation pending that would enable doctors to place DNR (do not resuscitate) orders on a patients chart without notice or permission–even if the patient is competent! From the text of S.B. 303:
Sec.A166.012. STATEMENT RELATING TO DO-NOT-RESUSCITATE ORDERS.
(c) Before placing a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order in a patient ’s medical record, the physician or the facility ’s personnel shall make a reasonably diligent effort to contact or cause to be contacted the surrogate. The facility shall establish a policy regarding the notification required under this section. The policy may authorize the notification to be given verbally by a physician or facility personnel. (d)The DNR order takes effect at the time it is written in the patient ’s chart or otherwise placed in the patient ’s medical record. (e) If the patient or surrogate disagrees with the DNR order being placed in or removed from the medical record, the patient or surrogate may request a second opinion at the patient ’s or surrogate ’s expense.
The notification requirement only applies to patients not expected to die within weeks or days. If the patient is expected to die imminently, the obligation to attempt notification and the right to a self-paid second opinion does not exist:
(f) Subsection (c) [the notification section quoted above] does not apply to a DNR order placed in the medical record of a patient:(1) whose death, based on reasonable medical judgment,is imminent despite attempted resuscitation; (2) for whom, based on reasonable medical judgment, resuscitation would be medically ineffective and there is insufficient time to contact the surrogate;…
Subsection (e) [right to obtain second opinion] does not apply to a DNR order placed in the medical record of a patient with respect to whom, based on reasonable medical judgment, death is expected in days to weeks and resuscitation would be medically ineffective.
What does “medically ineffective” mean? It isn’t defined. Moreover, it couldn’t be the same as “imminent despite attempted resuscitation,” or that language would have been repeated. Given the justifications for futile care arguments, this could reflect a judgment based on “quality of life” rather than the resuscitation being physiologically useless.
Doctors who impose DNRs on charts without permission would be accorded extraordinary legal protection for their mistakes or unilateral inactions:
(i) A physician, health professional acting under the direction of a physician, or health care facility is not civilly or criminally liable or subject to review or disciplinary action by the appropriate licensing authority if the actor has complied with the procedures under this section…
So, even if the physicians are negligent in their diagnoses, so long as they follow the procedure, they are home free? This would mean that there would be no checks and balances in an issue of life and death!
The problem is, if a law is passed, then the law must be followed, and the question would be, will the Texas legislature (sic) actually read this bill before passing it? Or will it be like "ObamaCare", where it's part of a giant omnibus bill that "we have to pass it to see what's in it"?
I'm counting on Texas to continue as a beacon for freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, although it certainly wouldn't hurt to just call your Congressperson and remind him/her of that!
LOL....I can always count on FReepers to make me laugh even in the darkest of times.
Well said.
Sick....
Now would be a damn good time to remove the Organ Donor permission data from your medical files. Of course that wouldn’t have any effect in how fast they slip the DNR info into your file, would it?
Thanks for posting and please ping with any additional info you may find. I’d love to know who (all) is behind this.
Put Alex Kayhill and Ranger Walker on stopping this. :^)
and where have I heard that word before..."deemed"...???
Stay vigilant, all.
It says the author of the bill is Duell - If it is Bob Duell, wiki says he is a a conservative republican.
Sorry, Bob Deuell
Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, filed legislation Thursday, SB 303, that provides clarification to Texas’ Advanced Directives Act, which sets out the end-of-life care for patients. Deuell’s bill adds language that specifically addresses patients “for whom life-sustaining treatment would be medically inappropriate and ineffective,” Weltge said. It also sets out a longer timeline for notifications and an appeals process for families or surrogates of terminally ill patients who disagree with the patient or the doctor’s wishes for treatment.
Thanks! I will be calling for answers in the am. I found ths:
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist2/dist2.htm
I understand that in NYC when you call 911, the organ donors crew gets there before the EMT sometimes.
The world is harsh. Sorry. BTW It is harsher when someone wants their kid/brother/sister/parent resuscitated but the hospital does not have the resources to provide follow-on treatment and they die.
PS If this is what I read about, it is a response to attempted federal preemption of required care under obamacare specifically designed to kill private owned hospitals. To whit: only the Feds can decide who gets treatment and who dies. Guess what? The Feds won't choose you or yours, especially if the state opts out, they'll make whatever choices inflict the most harm on private caregivers. And people WILL die, but the statists could not care less.
It is wise to have your wishes for health care expressed in an advanced directive. An advanced directive states specifically what you want and what you do not want done for you. It also appoints someone to act in your place if for some reason you are unable to act for yourself. EVERYONE should have one and a designated person for health care power of attorney.
I am reviewing the bill. I think this article may be taken out of context. Further down in the bill, DNR is explained in detail. If you want to read the bill, you can find it at this location:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/83R/billtext/pdf/SB00303I.pdf
I am no lawyer, but I don’t think it is as grim as it sounds.
I hope you are right. Life News is usually pretty credible from my experience. But they could have jumped the gun on this one for sure. Not out of realm of possibilities. We are all pretty jumpy these days, for good reason. Our government is out of control with left wing, culture of death hacks...lol.
Thanks for posting your take on the article.
My father was sent to the ER a couple of weeks ago, he’s 90 for possible Pneumonia. The asst.living home he was in called 911 first instead of me. Anyway the doctor on duty had to ask do I want them to do anything!,Anything! damn its a chest cold, I would have brought him decongestant and scheduled an appt. with his doctor, but because of having a DNR on file they were prepared to just make him comfortable and let him go at his age.
Which may have been better because he wasn’t admitted and has recovered enough to try messing with his taxes!Ha-Ha
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