(NRO) – Texas’s infamous “futile care” law (contained within TADA, the Texas Advanced Directives Act) looks to soon become less authoritarian. Under current law, a patient in the ICU can be cut off from wanted treatment based on the doctor’s perception of his or her quality of life.
If the MD thinks the wanted treatment is “inappropriate,” a behind-closed-doors ethics-committee hearing can be called, and if the committee decrees that the treatment will be withdrawn, the patient and/or family has only ten days to find another facility willing to provide the care.
There is no appeal process and no written record of who said what and the bases for the decision. CONTINUE