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Local man fights against Texas law to keep wife alive
OUSTON - A woman recovering from a stroke at a local hospital has less than one week to be transferred to a new facility or faces death.
Carolyn Jones, 61, is conscious, although intubation prevents her from communicating. Jones is on dialysis and uses a ventilator to help her breathe.
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Local man fights against Texas law to keep wife alive
By Brandon Walker - Reporter
Posted: 9:25 PM, May 07, 2019
Updated: 8:44 AM, May 08, 2019
Shares: 0
HOUSTON - A woman recovering from a stroke at a local hospital has less than one week to be transferred to a new facility or faces death.
Carolyn Jones, 61, is conscious, although intubation prevents her from communicating. Jones is on dialysis and uses a ventilator to help her breathe.
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November 2018
Her husband, Donald, serves as her primary caregiver, tending to her bedside at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, where she’s been a patient since November 2018.
2017
Her struggles, however, stretch one year prior: Jones has lived in health care facilities since she suffered a stroke in 2017. While her family said she has shown signs of improvement, Jones’ life is scheduled to end May 13.
It’s a decision made by her doctors, as well as the hospital’s medical ethics committee – and it’s legal under Texas law.
At issue is a portion of the Texas Advance Directives Act, which outlines certain provisions allowing a health care facility to discontinue “life-sustaining treatment,” thus ending a patient’s life. The statute calls for a 10-day written notice of the decision if doctors providing life-sustaining treatment deem it futile – and upon review by the medical ethics committee, the opinion is upheld.
The law is often referred to as the 10-Day Rule. Under the law, dialysis, a form of kidney treatment, is considered “life-sustaining treatment.”
Donald Jones is fighting the decision, along with help from Texas Right to Life.
Donald Jones "mentioned he felt things were tightening around him once the 10-day countdown began,” said Emily Cook, an attorney representing the Joneses, through Texas Right to Life.
Carolyn Jones received her 10-day notice Thursday. The 10-day window includes weekends, making the rush to save Jones shorter, Cook said.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local-man-fights-against-texas-law-to-keep-wife-alive?