Review of the entire blog is worth the effort. We have heard strident defenses over the last couple years of the compassion and expense associated with Futile Care, especially that creation of our current President in Texas, the Texas Futile Care Law. As we noticed in practice, it is not the care that is futile, but the lives of the recipients, in the eyes of the little gods. Well, here is some contrast.
..........................
Ashlee Callie, a popular South African actress, was involved in a head-on automobile collision on Friday night, Feb. 8. She had weekend surgery for head injuries, and was in ICU and Recovery at Johannesburg General Hospital. Today, ONC Today is reporting that the hospital switched off Callie's life support machines resulting in her death on February 15th: "Apparently, allegedly, it is the hospital’s 'unofficial' policy that not one patient can stay in ICU for more than a week. One of the reasons given is that the hospital receives too many emergency patients who needs the ICU life support machines, almost on a daily basis. And the cost of running those machines are high."
"So if one patient stays for too long in ICU, and by the end of a week period there are no signs of them recovering, the machines are switched off."
"New Futility Case -- Ashley Callie"
8mm