There is an old Jewish saying: “If you save a life, you’ve saved the world.” If that is true, the Alliance Defense Fund has saved many worlds, preventing profoundly cognitively disabled people from being intentionally dehydrated to death by having tube-supplied sustenance removed. For example, there was the case of Jesse Ramirez, whose wife and doctors wanted him dehydrated after an auto accident. The ADF fought on behalf of other family members. He not only awakened, but eventually left the hospital on his own two feet and attended an event where I was speaking in order to shake my hand because I had written in his defense! It was a very moving moment.
The ADF is at it again, at least temporarily saving the life of a man who was temporarily unconscious from a heart attack. From the ADF press release:
A 55-year-old Maryland man who became temporarily unconscious after suffering a heart attack and a seizure has been saved from being starved to death after an ADF-allied attorney obtained an order in state court on behalf of the man’s mother and brother. The man, Daniel Sanger, is now responding to hospital staff after going six days without food and water. Although Sanger told his doctor and his mother “I want to live” before he went unconscious, Frederick Memorial Hospital removed the public-assistance patient from life-giving food, water, and nutrients on Friday with the permission of his wife.
“Everyone deserves a chance to recover,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “There is no question that Daniel expressly stated his desire to live, and yet he was denied the food and water he needed to survive. His wishes should have been followed. ADF sees far too many situations involving hasty decisions to pull the plug on a human life.”
“The court has done the right thing in granting our request to have Daniel’s food and hydration restored,” said Sanger’s legal counsel Daniel Cox, one of nearly 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance. “We are asking the court to award temporary decision-making authority to Daniel’s mother and brother.”
We don’t know how the case will turn out ultimately, of course. And this is a one-sided view of the facts. But the point is that without the ADF, people who want to protect their loved ones from dehydration would have few resources with which to fight, much less prevail.
In the larger picture, it continues to amaze me how often often becomes the default setting over life when people experience a serious cognitive insult. I am so proud of the ADF for standing in the breach and saving people from slowly dehydrating–deaths that would be rightfully considered torture if done to a dog or a horse, and would land one in the Hague if imposed on a captured international terrorist leader.
October 22nd, 2011 | 4:37 pm
What is with wives acquiescing to having their husbands pulled from life support/hydration?? Is this the norm? The same was the case w/ Terri Shiavo and her husband ‘pulling the plug’–why are spouses the first to always just surrender?? (As if there isn’t enough disincentive to get married in the world today!)
holyterror Reply:
October 22nd, 2011 at 8:26 pm
@ECM, I was thinking about this very thing while I read an article in the Frederick News-Post. My first thought is that the spouse is the one on the front-lines of teh grueling stress of the hospital setting, and is therefore the most velnerable to the death-pushers — and, most importantly, least able to do the outside research that is required to advocate for your loved one.
It also might have something to do with the fact that a great many spouses look at the frightening possibility of spending the rest of their lives caring for someone who seems catastrophically ill…and panic. Naturally, of course. And these initial, uncertain and panicked times are when lots of irrevocable decisions are made
October 22nd, 2011 | 8:23 pm
This is the hospital in my old hometown. FMH is totally unequipped to handle major neuro cases.
Of course, that kind of detail never seems to matter to those who want to chime in about how doctors are always right.
October 22nd, 2011 | 10:58 pm
If anything, all these stories have taught me to make my wishes VERY clear even at this point in my relatively young, healthy life. Not only have I spoken to my parents, extended family and friends about NOT DEHYDRATING ME, EVER, but a statement to that effect can be seen on FB. So, just in case the relevant people aren’t around, the doctors can go read my facebook page. Really, the lengths we have to go to prevent medical homicide nowadays would be comical if it weren’t so sad.
October 25th, 2011 | 1:17 am
What does the ADF mean by “responding to medical staff?” Is the patient awake and answering their questions; or is he unconscious, but flexes a muscle when someone sticks an IV into him?
HW
October 25th, 2011 | 10:52 am
[...] J. Smith at Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The ADF is at it again, at least temporarily saving the life of a man who was temporarily [...]
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact