In 2005, when Baylor Hospital was widely criticized (in Slate, the New York Times, and elsewhere) for unilaterally removing life support from Tirhas Habtegiris, the hospital issued a thorough statement explaining its reasons and process. Baylor has apparently taken these pages off its website, but it was a great means not only to defend its reputation but also to educate the community about how the TADA really works.
It would be great if Trinitas Hospital did the same thing. All the key medical facts have already been publicly litigated, so confidentiality should not be a bar. It would educate the community and advance the very debate that the hospital wanted the courts to engage.
Some key facts did not emerge during the litigation. Indeed, the "thin record" was one reason the court dismissed the appeal. Does the hospital have a futility policy? What efforts were made at mediation with the family? Who sits on the ethics/prognosis committee? How did the case reach the committee? How did the committee reach its decision? How was the decision communicated to the family? Why was the point about the dialysis port not being removed but only cleaned not raised in the trial court?
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar