Texas’s futile care law is a disgrace, permitting hospital bioethics committees to kick patients off of wanted life-sustaining treatment.
Until now, they could even impose DNRs on a patient’s chart before asking permission, and then notify the sick person or family/guardian. Until now. From the Texas Tribune story:
The Texas Senate on Tuesday evening voted to adopt a House-amended version of Senate Bill 11, which requires doctors to obtain explicit legal permission from patients before issuing do-not-resuscitate orders.
There are even criminal penalties for violating a patient’s DNR wishes. Yikes!
Why a law was needed to keep doctors from imposing do not resuscitate orders on patients without permission is beyond me. It should have gone without saying.