Dear Lists,
(3) states, Texas, Virginia, and California allow physicians to OVERRIDE
even a living will....

Peace,
Karen G.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/national/27death.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&e
n=5a6ec3dbb56c7d2a&hp&ex=1111899600&partner=homepage
The Texas law, signed in 1999 by Gov. George W. Bush, allows doctors to
remove life-sustaining treatment over the objections of families, provided an
ethics committee agrees and the hospital gives the family 10 days to see if
another
facility will accept the patient.
Dr. Robert L. Fine, an author of the law and the chairman of the clinical
ethics committee at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, said that life
support could be withdrawn even if a patient's living will specified otherwise,
but that ethics committees would give great weight to such a document.
Virginia's law is similar; California's is much vaguer, saying physicians
cannot be required to provide health care contrary to generally accepted health
care standards.
Now, in most disputes in Texas, "families look for an alternative willing to
provide care and if none is available they say, 'O.K., it's time to stop,' "
Dr. Fine said.


Karen Hallenbeck~Sikorsky~George BS,RN,UM,QC
http://hometown.aol.com/anewplanforyou



Owner-Moderator
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"AnAnGeLInPain"

Ya'll are special you truly are, and to be the
catalyst for this group is a miracle for I know
in my heart that God's will created this group(s)
and each of you are very very special to me, always
no matter what I AM SO PROUD to a "part of" what
this family has become..AND WILL BE!!!!
Interqual Certified
Published Psychiatric Researcher
Advocate for those in CIP, HIV, Psychologic Pain
"A Higher Power is necessary to find the ability to withstand self
destruction.."


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