End of Life Debate (Emilio, Texas Law)

The debate continues on the end of life decisions and care of the poor child, Emilio Gonzales, at Wesley Smith’s blog.

Please take a look at the misunderstandings in the conversation and the fantastic review by “woundedpig,” whose comments begin at about the 27th post.

It does appear that the lung collapses were due to atelectasis, rather than pneumothoraces and there were no chest tubes. That doesn’t change the facts that no one “refused” Emilio a tracheostomy. It means that he was unstable and not a candidate for the procedure.

There’s also links there to the House State Affairs committee hearing of April 25th, if you want to see some of the debate at the Texas Legislature – and some of the people involved. The hearing began in the morning, when Representative Delisi laid out her bill. After a recess for the regular House session, the Committee resumed late that afternoon and ran to 5 AM. I couldn’t stay because I had a 6:30 AM meeting in Dallas the next day. But the other testimony is worth some time — after you read “woundedpig’s” comments, though!

Edited 3/27/2012 – formatting