27-year-old couldn't pay the bill, so Texas hospital unplugged her

[quaoar]

So much for Culture of Life. This happened in Dallas/FW.

http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_348124802.html

< snip >

Habtegiris had abdominal cancer that spread to her lungs. Eventually, she was on a ventilator and her cousin took care of her.

The family said doctors told them they would have to remove her from life support in 10 days.

When the family disagreed, the hospital's Clinical Ethics Committee met and decided to take Habtegiris off the ventilator.

The hospital declined an on-camera interview, but in a statement said they "contacted 12 facilities including hospitals, long term acute care facilities and nursing homes, all of whom declined to accept the patient.”

Salvi believes this would not have happened if his sister had health insurance.

[blue2helix]

1. Just Horrible

This should be front page news.

[quaoar]

3. Welcome to DU

[blue2helix]

9. Thanks

Got sucked in after being a spectator for a while.

[ninkasi]

46. You're right, it should...

and welcome to DU.:hi: :hi: :hi:

[Loonman]

2. Where's the catkiller and the Terri exploiters now?

Hmmmm....?

[Gemini Cat]

19. Schivo is soooooo last spring.

The fundy exploiters are now merrily screaming and shaking their collective heads of asses about the 'war' on their holiday.
When that gets old they'll be back to the foetus and other things of deep concern. They won't care about 27 year old woman who died because of lack of health care and they sure as hell won't care about the Katrina victims.

[MidwestTransplant]

25. If Terri didn't have money to pay she would have been

unplugged ages ago too without so much as peep from Dr. "I can diagnose on camera" Frist.

[libhill]

26. BINGO -

n/t

[MountainLaurel]

4. What a pro-life crowd.

These people make me :puke:

[LiberalinNC]

18. Hypocrites!!!!!

[Bucky]

5. We're a right-to-life state (if you don't count the deadbeats)

I somehow doubt we'll see the Schiavvo-goaders hop on board this train.

[libhill]

6. If that's not a

good, but tragic, argument for Soclialized Medicine in this fucking barbaric country, I don't know what is -

[Larkspur]

7. Where's those frick'n Xtian fundies who protested Terry Schiavo?

Sounds like the Habtegiris family would welcome their efforts.

[libhill]

12. The bastards don't give a shit

They are typical Repukes, nothing matters but money -damn all of them to the lowest pits of hell. On edit: I'm sure Jaysus is sooo proud -

[KingFlorez]

8. What!?!

That sounds like something that would happen in some authoritatian state. I bet the so-called pro-lifers won't support this.

[theoldman]

10. I know this sounds cruel

but the lady was going to die anyhow in a few days. Why waste money that could be used to save another life. They pull the plug on people every day to prevent further suffering.

[babylonsister]

14. Welcome to DU, theoldman! nt

[quaoar]

15. But not against their will

[eve_was_framed]

38. ya but where is the "religious" right on this one? Funny how they

are so very silent now.

[Crunchy Frog]

40. I actually agree with your position on that, for the most part.

What disgusts me so much is the hypocrisy. The fact that they would pull the plug on this one woman, while whipping up mass hysteria and even staging a special session of the Senate over Terri Schiavo.

I do have real concerns about people slipping throught the health care cracks because of lack of insurance. People are definitely dying from lack of money, who could otherwise be saved, and the "right to lifers" are nowhere to be seen.

Welcome to DU, by the way.:hi:

[stickdog]

62. Here's the problem. It's OK to kill convicts, foreigners, brown people,

people who have panic attacks in airports,
people without health insurance,
people without a way out of New Orleans,
etc.,
etc.,

just not braindead or unborn white people!

[rman]

64. prevent suffering or prevent cost? make up your mind.

it seems that suffering is less of a issue the more money you have.

[pnorman]

65. Reading that article to completion,

I saw that there WAS "another side to the story". But as "fiscally responsible" as it might be, it was still a LOT more cold-blooded than in the case of Terri Schiavo. I'd put it right up there with Tom DeLay, pulling the plug on his own dear old pappy.

pnorman
On edit: Googling to check on a minor point, I saw where Terri Schiavo was described as "a disabled woman living in Florida"!!! http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://journals.aol.com/shjusticeforall/SavingTerriSchiavo/&h=368&w=199&sz=30&tbnid=2ntuhD1zElUJ:&tbnh=117&tbnw=63&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dterri%2Bschiavo%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D&oi=imagesr&start=2

[Bucky]

11. You don't "get it" until you read the last lines in the story

It goes:

Salvi said his sister wanted to die in her mother's arms.

A hospital spokesperson the facility offered to hire an immigration attorney free of charge to help bring the woman's mother from East Africa.

Relatives, however, said the East African process was too lengthy.

Africa, huh?

[Ravenseye]

20. Please

I get it. You're saying she was denied this because she was black right? That race was involved. Please.

Name me one time in the history of this country where race has played an issue in how people have been treated, other than Slavery, Segregation, Voting Rights, Public Transportation, Housing, and Employement.

:sarcasm:

[kcass1954]

29. Education. n/t

[Zodiak]

43. Death penalty n/t

[brentspeak]

13. Some information on the Dr. Allan Shulkin quoted in this article:

Political donations of Dr.Allan Shulkin, quoted in the article as saying: "Sometimes applying technology when there is no other opportunity for recovery is wrong not because it’s expensive, but because it prolong suffering,"

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=TX&last=shulkin

Dallas, TX 75230
Allan N Shulkinm DPA/Physician MARCHANT, KENNY EWELL (R)
House (TX 24)

KENNY MARCHANT FOR CONGRESS $2,000
primary 09/29/05

Shulkin, Allan N Dr.
Dallas, TX 75230
ANSWL MDPA/Physician HENSARLING, JEB MR. (R)
House (TX 05)

FRIENDS OF JEB HENSARLING $2,000
primary 08/25/05

Shulkin, Allan
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Physician SESSIONS, PETE (R)
House (TX 32)
PETE SESSIONS FOR CONGRESS 2006 $2,000
primary 06/30/05

Shulkin, Allan N.
Dallas, TX 75230
Self-Employed/Doctor DELAY, THOMAS DALE (R)
House (TX 22)
TOM DELAY CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE $2,000
primary 06/20/05

SHULKIN, ALLAN
DALLAS, TX 75230
PHYSICIAN TALENT, JAMES MATTHES (R)
Senate - MO
TALENT FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $1,000
primary 05/06/05

Shulkin, Allan N Mr.
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Business owner
TARRANT COUNTY REPUBLICAN VICTORY FUND $1,000
primary 02/11/05

Shulkin, Allan N Dr
Dallas, TX 75230
A N Shulkin MD PA/Physician JOHNSON, SAMUEL ROBERT (R)
House (TX 03)
FRIENDS OF SAM JOHNSON $1,000
primary 01/13/05

Shulkin, Allan
Dallas, TX 75230
Self Employed/Physician CANTOR, ERIC (R)
House (VA 07)
CANTOR FOR CONGRESS $1,000
general 10/29/04

Shulkin, Fredell
Dallas, TX 75230
n/a/homemaker SESSIONS, PETE (R)
House (TX 32)
PETE SESSIONS FOR CONGRESS 2006 $2,000
general 10/22/04

Shulkin, Allan N
Dallas, TX 75230 WOHLGEMUTH, ARLENE MRS (R)
House (TX 17)
WOHLGEMUTH FOR CONGRESS $1,000
general 10/20/04

Shulkin, Allan N Mr.
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Business owner
TARRANT COUNTY REPUBLICAN VICTORY FUND $500
primary 09/01/04

Shulkin, Allan Dr.
Dallas, TX 75230
Allan N Shulkinm DPA/Physician MARCHANT, KENNY EWELL (R)
House (TX 24)
KENNY MARCHANT FOR CONGRESS $2,000
general 06/30/04

Shulkin, Allan
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Physician SESSIONS, PETE (R)
House (TX 32)
PETE SESSIONS FOR CONGRESS 2006 $2,000
general 06/28/04

SHULKIN, FREDELL MRS.
DALLAS, TX 75230 BUSH, GEORGE W (R)
President
BUSH-CHENEY '04 (PRIMARY) INC $2,000
primary 06/02/04

SHULKIN, ALLAN N DR.
DALLAS, TX 75230
ALLAN N.SHULKINM.D.P.A./PHYSICIAN BUSH, GEORGE W (R)
President
BUSH-CHENEY '04 (PRIMARY) INC $2,000
primary 03/12/04

Shulkin, Allan
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Physician SESSIONS, PETE (R)
House (TX 32)
PETE SESSIONS FOR CONGRESS 2006 $2,000
primary 03/08/04

Shulkin, Allan
Dallas, TX 75230
Self employed/Doctor
DALLAS COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY (R) $2,500
primary 03/03/04

Shulkin, Alan DR.
Dallas, TX 75230 POE, TED (R)
House (TX 02)
POE FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 01/15/04

Shulkin, Allan Dr.
Dallas, TX 75230
ANSWL MDPA/Physician HENSARLING, JEB MR. (R)
House (TX 05)
FRIENDS OF JEB HENSARLING $2,000
primary 12/04/03

SHULKIN, ALLAN N MD
DALLAS, TX 75230
PHYSICIAN CORNYN, JOHN (R)
Senate - TX
TEXANS FOR SENATOR JOHN CORNYN INC $2,000
primary 01/20/03

Shulkin, Allan Dr.
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Physician BURGESS, MICHAEL C DR (R)
House (TX 26)
MICHAEL BURGESS FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 12/12/02

Shulkin, Allan
Dallas, TX 75230
Self-employed/Physician
DALLAS COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY (R) $2,500
primary 10/10/02

Shulkin, Fredell Mrs.
Dallas, TX 75230
homemaker/homemaker HENSARLING, JEB MR. (R)
House (TX 05)
FRIENDS OF JEB HENSARLING $1,000
general 08/29/02

Shulkin, Allan N.
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Physician BONILLA, HENRY (R)
House (TX 23)
TEXANS FOR HENRY BONILLA $500
general 06/27/02

Shulkin, Allan Dr.
Dallas, TX 75230
Self/Physician BURGESS, MICHAEL C DR (R)
House (TX 26)
MICHAEL BURGESS FOR
CONGRESS

[MidwestTransplant]

23. Boy I am shocked.

[gulfcoastliberal]

45. And guess who Bill Clinton's surgeon donated to?

SMITH, CRAIG R DR
BRONXVILLE,NY 10708

COLOMBIA NATIONAL/SURGEON

4/19/2004

$2,000

Bush, George W

My dad, a well respected physician, could not believe Bill had the surgery at Colombian/Presbyterian. He went to med school at NYU and said it is a terrible hospital.

Wonder if this asshole surgeon didn't do as good a job as possible and that lead to all the scar tissue that had to be removed. Or maybe he's just sucks at cardiac surgery.

[texpatriot2004]

16. How did the US Congress allow this to happen? After Schaivo?

Seriously? I thought the Rethugs were for the "culture of life"? What happened here?

I guess they were too busy debating the "war on Christmas" that they contrived.

[lostnfound]

21. I am disgusted beyond words, also. However..as a point of info:

there is a distinction between ventilators and feeding tubes in the eyes of the Catholic church (and hence in the eyes of most of the prolife crowd). Ventilators are considered 'extraordinary' means and feeding tubes are considered 'ordinary' means -- the obligation to sustain life extends only to 'ordinary' means.

I am horrified and disgusted with the decision in this case, and find it terribly sad that no one came forward to satisfy this poor woman's wish. If there were any shred of humanity left in our society..the comfort of having her mother there would not have been denied.

[Vinca]

17. The truly sad part is that this young woman might have delayed

treatment because she didn't have health insurance and couldn't afford to pay for care. It isn't right.

[libhill]

27. Yup -

just makes you beam with pride to be an American, doesn't it? I'm impressed.

[VaYallaDawg]

22. What's even stranger - this occured in a so-called Republican state?

[libhill]

24. Actually,

I think it's pretty typical - big dollars involved, and no political grist they could use to their advantage. So they pulled the plug. Not at all surprising. Let's see how fast this story gets buried.

[rd_kent]

28. Where was Congress and the Pres?

Shouldnt thay have held a special session in order to pass a law to save her?

[myrna minx]

41. Where was Frist's passionate Senate Floor diagnosis of the woman'smalady ?

:shrug: I'm pretty there's a president out clearing brush somewhere who could easily drop everything to fly in to sign legislations halting this tragedy. Where are the wailing gawd warriors holding vigils? :sarcasm:

[rd_kent]

42. Exactly!!!

There must not have been any political gain in it.

[kentuck]

30. Well, if Texas unplugged her, tha's all right....

'cause Bush is from Texas and they're Republicans. But if it had been Massachusetts or a Democratic Governor, they would have been shitting their diapers. Screw them!

[AllegroRondo]

31. Guess which Texas Governor signed the law that allows this.

[madmom]

33. I was just about to post that....

if memory serves me gov.shrub signed a law allowing such action in case of non payment.

[AllegroRondo]

34. DING DING!

we have a winner!

even as a Governor, the shrub put money ahead of life.

[NVMojo]

32. and the CHRISTians in this country are worried about Happy Holidays!

[libhill]

36. Yeah -

too bad they don't know the meaning of it, though. Gawd rest ye merry Republicans, let nothing you dismay, remember Jaysus your Savior was born on Christmas Day, to save you all from poor "deadbeats", who have no money to pay, oh, tidings of comfort and cash! $$$$$$$ -

[NC_Nurse]

35. The key here is that the family's

wishes were denied. Both women were dying/dead, but nobody cares about the family if there's no $ and they're not rich, white, RW fundies. Typical.

[sandnsea]

37. Pro-life helped write this legislation

That's part of the key to this. That's the reason you'll never see a pro-life group come to the aid of any of these cases in Texas, they helped write the law.

[libhill]

39. In a nutshell -

Money talks, life walks. Change the name to "Pro life for Folks who Have Money".

[rainbow4321]

60. The city that this happened in

is neon red, hospitals in that part of town cater to the extremely rich, you are screwed if you are anything but that...
Twice I have seen indigent people show up in on my floor from the ER with no family and they have been sent up to our floor literally sitting in urine or stool---and I don't mean they soiled themselves on the way to the room...drenched in urine to the point where the guy's wallet contents (money, green card) were dripping in urine and were torn. Stool dried to someone's bottom. Yet our well manicured/dressed/$$$ folk manage to be brought to us spotless.
Both times we shot off an email to the higher ups to report the ER staff, whether the brass actually DID anything, we're never told.

[Initech]

44. Culture of life, my ass! Where's Frist and Delay? Or Bush?

Or the so-called "activist judges"? Huh? Where are the people who are standing outside the hospital reading their Bibles, praying, and having red tape covering their mouths? Where's the media and the supreme court? Where's the outrage? Where's the pro-lifers?

[quaoar]

47. They're tied up right now

fighting on the front lines of the War on Christmas. Ayatollah O'Reilly issued a fatwa, ya know.

[FreedomAngel82]

48. So where's Randall Terry now?

:mad:

[MadisonProgressive]

49. What is it with Texas?

[tuvor]

50. This just proves that the Schiavo brouhaha was nothing but a stunt.

A goddamned stunt.

There's no compassion anywhere with the republican party. It's all so self-serving. They don't care about anyone but their own selves.

And somehow, people keep falling for it.

[AX10]

51. The whole Schiavo deal was just a stunt to appeal to the fundie base.

[proud2BlibKansan]

52. These people are evil

and so are our legislators who continue to neglect the uninsured in our nation.

[CAG]

53. Christian righties were going to protest until the hospital assured them

that their policy was to say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays". It demonstrated they had their priorities right.

:sarcasm:

[sakabatou]

54. Where's the outrage?

Where's Dr. Frist? Where's Jeb Bush? Where are the crazy evangelicals?

[Nothing Without Hope]

57. Hey, this was a poor black woman - no PR value for the wingnuts. n/t

[EC]

55. Salvi believes this would not have happened

Salvi believes this would not have happened if his sister had health insurance.


or lived in another country

[BrklynLiberal]

56. ..and where is the Jesus on the trailer hitch????

What happpened? THIS life wasn't so valuable???!!!
What a bunch of disgusting self-serving hypocrites.... :puke:
:mad: :grr: :nuke:

[alittlelark]

58. I'll say they likely made the right decision w/ or w/o healthcare

It may sound extreme, but she had no chance and her suffering would be prolonged. This particular case involves a woman who will die w/in months. The most she could have gained is 4-10 weeks. Her form of cancer is a nasty buisness.

I support euthenasia for the terminally ill.

I hope I have that option if I am ever in such a position.

[tavalon]

67. The key here is that her family was against it

I'm not sure she was able to weigh in on the decision.

If she had wanted to die, I would be singing praises. I really, really believe in assisted suicide for those who desire it.

[rainbow4321]

59. "Prolonging suffering"

From the article

"Sometimes applying technology when there is no other opportunity for recovery is wrong not because it’s expensive, but because it prolong suffering," he said.
-----------

The above quote is bullshit...I work on an ICU stepdown unit that will keep people in "prolonged suffering" states forever if the family wishes...of course, they all have Medicare/insurance.

We have unresponsive patients curled up in a fetal position and have tubes coming out of every hole (rectal tubes, feeding tubes, foleys etc..) that remain full codes thru out their entire hospital stay (weeks, MONTHS). To get them in the position that they would have to be in for us to DO a full code, we would have to break all 4 limbs and break all their ribs. Yet no one ever tells the families "Ya know, this is really too much suffering, our hospital committee has decided to let make them a DNR".

Of course, my hospital will also let people sit in the ER for 12+ hours for a bed because they don't want to tell the ambulances to go elsewhere and lose the $$$$ to nearby facilities (BTW, my facility is down the street from the hospital in the article).

[Gman]

69. On the other hand

I watched 2 different people wither away in unimaginable pain from colon cancer. Neither person was ever going to get better. Each day was worse than the previous. With both these people, I couldn't help but think that we treat animals better than people. An animal gets terminally sick it gets put down right away. People are made to endure the pain. Both the people I mention told me several times before they died that they were ready to go weeks before they died.

It seems to me that prolonging the lives of terminally ill cancer patients is more often the desire of those healthy relatives and not the ill person.

[stickdog]

61. It's the culture of life don't you know! (nt)

[Erika]

63. Where were the right wingers in keeping this woman alive?

No money, no compassion by the fantacis.

[The Backlash Cometh]

66. Where was Bush? Why didn't Congress call a special session?

[YOY]

68. Let me guess: She was black.

That's why the Shiavo nuts didn't come crawling with Jesus on a trailer hitch...

Hypocritical BASTARDS!!!