Cape Coral Hospital (part of Lee Memorial Health System, near Fort Meyers, Florida) has asked a local court to allow them to remove life-sustaining treatment without the family's consent and over their objections.
Judge Michael T. McHugh may soon adjudicate a case that frequently arises in our nation's hospitals but rarely reaches into a courtroom. Confidential Party v. Confidential Party, No. 14MH165 (Lee County Circuit Court, Fla., Mar. 2014).
Yesterday, four doctors testified. All said about the same thing. If taken off life support, will she ever recover? "There's about a 100% chance that this person will not survive and this is futile" testified neurosurgeon Douglas Newland M.D. (see video) "I've been doing this for 30 years," said Rahul Challapalli M.D. "In my experience I don't think I have seen anybody who's in this position at this stage going to recover."
The family disputes that the patient is in a PVS. But the physicians do not seem to base their proposed treatment plan solely on that ground:
- Dr. Newland testified about her quality of life: "If she did remotely survive it will be in a severe disabled state that most people would not wish to continue in."
- Dr. Challapalli testified about pain: "I honestly hope to God that she's not feeling the pain for what we are doing. . . . We poke her, we pry her, we have tubes there, we have operations there."
It looks like a first step will be for a physician independent of the treating hospital to examine the patient.
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