Jerri Lynn Ward responded to my response:
First, I did not accuse YOU of breaking a federal law. If you are receiving information from someone in the hospital, THEY are breaking federal law and not you. Second, the ethics committee does have conflicts of interest whether you want to acknowledge it or not--and there ARE economic conflicts of interest. I don't know what more to do to try to make you understand what a conflict of interest is. And, it doesn't matter whether the conflict impacted the committee's decision or not--it's there.
Regardless, the bed quote was pulled out the reporter's butt. All I said was that ethics committees have apparent conflicts of interest because there are economics involved here. You can believe that or not, I don't care.
As for Melanie Childers letter, I am going to ask Tim to take that down. I didn't read the whole thing when it was posted and, I agree, that's a terrible thing to say.
You may think it's difficult to talk to lawyers, but I also find it difficult to talk to doctors who cannot seem to fathom that there are two sides to every story and that they shouldn't have the final god-like power to decide which story is true--with no oversite except by a committee which is dominated by people dependent for their livlihood on the hospital. This law merely reinforces that tendency.
The fact that you take this personally and go on the attack WHEN YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE RECORDS AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT REGARDING HIS CONDITION, tells me that you believe that, you too, should have unbridled power to make decisions for other people.
Doctor's aren't God and they aren't qualified to make moral judgments about whether a person's life--or whatever is left of it, is valuable to that person and his family.
You can attack me all you want--but when you start disparaging this baby's condition on the internet, I draw the line. If you got all this from the ethics committee report--you seem to forget that the committee never reviewed the records themselves.
The hospital is trying to help us with a transfer, you are not helping.
Jerri Lynn,
Most of the information that I have came from you or quotes attributed to you in the press and in the blogs. The rest did come from the ethics report of test results and testimony from several doctors involved in the baby's care, from experience and from reading as much as I could find on respiratory chain/mitochondrial genetic syndromes. (Flash back to biochem and the Kreb's cycle.)
What do you perceive as a threat to you? I've quoted, reported, and reacted to comments such as this one of yours, but never even attributed a motive to you, much less anything equivalent to your assertions about me, my personal integrity and motives in this post.
Jerri Lynn, as I said: When you make statements in the press, you, Melanie Childers, and all the bloggers and disability activists who have blogged on this (a couple of hundred blog posts alone from a google blog search) not only involve me and other doctors.
You involve my sister the RN, my Mama who was a housekeeper at a hospital 25 years ago, and me, when I was a phlebotomist. You accuse everyone of having a value system based on "economics," and (at least it was reported) on "freeing a bed," rather than our concern for the truth and this child. Every one of these people would have to cooperate with their silence for a week to a month, if you are correct that one or more of the 4 or so doctors mentioned in the Ethics Report are attempting to use - or believe that they have - some " final god-like power."
By the way, search Google blogs and news for "Emilio Gonzales." or your name.
The World News Blog covered the story this morning.
Read the reactions of people to the early news reports, here.
Your quotes are all over the place. Here's one from yesterday morning and another from 10:52 last night:
“I don’t know the hospital officials want to free up a hospital bed or cut costs by not administering treatment, or whether they just believe that they should be the final arbiters as to whose life is worth living, but the life of a child far outweighs such concerns,” said Ward. “Whatever the reasons for the hospital officials’ mad dash to end this child’s life, little Emilio should not be subject to ‘death by vote’”.
1 comment:
Beverly,
The only thing that came from me was a question about the hospital's motivation, and I confess in the press release that I don't know what it is. There is a lot of thought out there that these decisions (not necessarily this one), are based on economics and I get that question all the time. My point is that I did NOT tell that reporter that, in this case, the hospital was trying to free up a bed. But that issue will, OF NECESSITY, have to be explored in any litigation which proceeds from these cases.
Your personalizing of this makes no sense. It's as if you are saying that--if the medical community's ethics are questioned in any way--that's an attack on the community.
We live in a free society and everyone is entitled to their opinion on what medical ethics should be. That said, the medical profession's opinion should not be the final word. If they can't stand the heat of having their positions challenged, I suggest they go somewhere and set up a dictatorship. Otherwise, complaining about others challenging their positions is just whining.
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