Why hasn't this been major news yet?
(Longer excerpt on the flip)
<< True to its word, Baylor disconnected her ventilator on Dec. 12, invoking a law signed in 1999 by George W. Bush, then governor of Texas. The law relieved doctors of an obligation to provide life-sustaining treatment 10 days after having provided formal notice that such treatment was found to be medically "inappropriate."
Unlike the comatose Terri Schiavo, Ms. Habtegiris was fully conscious and responsive when she was disconnected, according to her brother. ... Her brother and several other family members have described the agonizing spectacle of her death by suffocation over the next 16 minutes. Her mother never got there. >>
Ms. Habtegiris had little money and no health insurance. On Dec. 1, hospital authorities notified her brother that unless another hospital could be found to treat his sister, Baylor would be forced to discontinue care after 10 days. But even with Baylor's assistance, the family was unable to find a willing hospital. True to its word, Baylor disconnected her ventilator on Dec. 12, invoking a law signed in 1999 by George W. Bush, then governor of Texas. The law relieved doctors of an obligation to provide life-sustaining treatment 10 days after having provided formal notice that such treatment was found to be medically "inappropriate."
Unlike the comatose Terri Schiavo, Ms. Habtegiris was fully conscious and responsive when she was disconnected, according to her brother. She wanted to continue breathing. Her brother and several other family members have described the agonizing spectacle of her death by suffocation over the next 16 minutes. Her mother never got there. (Baylor officials have said their decision had nothing to do with financial considerations.)
This is from an op-ed in Friday's New York Times by Robert H. Frank, an economist at the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. He is the co-author, with new Federal Reserve chair Ben S. Bernanke, of "Principles of Economics."
WFAA-TV in Dallas was one of the local media outlets that reported on this sad case last month.
Why wasn't the Frist-Santorum-DeLay Congress scrambling to help this woman and her family, or posturing outside her hospital the way they did in the Schiavo case? Why wasn't Bush cutting a vacation short to sign a law to intervene? Where were the pro-lifers? And why are they all silent now? A whole month has passed.
If you want to call attention to this outrage, please recommend this diary. Thanks!