From the Wisconsin State Journal (May 14, 2009):
Group sues UW Hospital over policy on withholding treatment from disabled patients
By JASON STEIN
In a case that could have broad legal implications for when some
patients are allowed to die, an advocacy group is alleging that doctors
at UW Hospital broke the law by withholding treatment [and food and water] from two
developmentally disabled patients with apparent cases of pneumonia...
...In the first case, the family of a then 72-year-old developmentally
disabled patient identified as “J.L.” complained to Disability Rights
about “what the family believed was undue pressure on the part of a (UW
Hospital) physician to terminate life-sustaining medical treatment,”
according to the lawsuit.
On May 1, 2008, the patient was brought to UW Hospital with apparent
pneumonia. After a discussion with Dr. Julia Wright that included
J.L.’s quality of life, the family agreed to discontinue the patient’s
medications and not use a feeding tube.
When J.L. woke up the next morning and asked to eat, the family sought
to restart treatment but encountered resistance from Wright, the
lawsuit alleges....
The other case involved M.E., a then 13-year-old patient with severe
developmental disabilities that left him unable to speak. During the
summer of 2006, the parents of M.E. worked out a plan with UW Hospital
doctors to limit medical treatment for conditions such as pneumonia in
the future because of his “poor prognosis and poor quality of life,”
the lawsuit alleges.
In November 2006, M.E. developed apparent pneumonia and the staff at
the long-term care facility where he was staying, Bethesda Lutheran
Homes in Watertown, sought an order from his doctors at UW Hospital to
treat him with an antibiotic. When UW Hospital doctors ultimately
declined to give the order, citing the wishes of M.E.’s mother,
Bethesda Lutheran staff decided to give the patient antibiotics anyway
because they believed it was possible to treat M.E., the lawsuit
alleges.
Bethesda Lutheran spokesman David Morstad declined to speak about
the case, citing privacy concerns. But he said the staff at the
Christian long-term care home believe those with developmental
disabilities “should receive medical care for treatable illnesses just
as non-disabled citizens do.”
“We believe that the law in Wisconsin is clear that people with
developmental disabilities should receive medical care for treatable
illnesses unless they are dying or in a persistent vegetative state,”
Morstad said.
The boy’s parents objected to the treatment and transferred him on
Nov. 20, 2006, to UW Hospital, where he did not receive treatment and
where nutrition and fluids were stopped. From the hospital he was
transferred to a hospice facility where he died on Nov. 22, according
to the lawsuit....
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