Inclusion Daily Express -- Man Improved After Court Blocked Hospital From Removing Feeding Tube And Ventilator

Inclusion Daily Express Logo

International Disability Rights News Service
Click here for today's headlines & home page

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for ten days FREE . . .

Man Improved After Court Blocked Hospital From Removing Feeding Tube And Ventilator
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 14, 2008

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA--Last month, the family of Sam Golubchuk took Grace Hospital to court to keep doctors there from removing a ventilator and feeding tube from the 84-year-old man.

Doctors had said that Golubchuk, an Orthodox Jew, was "brain dead" and that it was futile to keep him alive because he would not recover. They also argued that doctors -- not families, the patients, or the courts -- should determine when life support should be removed.

Now Golubchuk's family says he is alert and is showing signs of improvement.

But you don't have to take their word for it.

The family's attorney, Neil Kravetsky, told the Haaretz news service that Golubchuk's own medical records show that hospital personnel believed he was improving, too. A December 12 chart entry showed "some eye movement [in response] to voice," "more spontaneous eye opening" and "more spontaneous right arm movement." Hospital staff wrote the word "awake" to describe his condition on December 17, Kravetsky said.

The family says that, according to Jewish tradition, life support cannot be withdrawn from someone who could not live for 72 hours without it. They say they want to honor their father's religious beliefs.

Disability rights advocates have argued that feeding tubes are quite common, and should not be considered 'life support'.

Related:
"Orthodox family takes hospital to court over father's life-support" (Haaretz)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/943724.html

Copyright © 2008 Inonit Publishing
Please do not reprint, forward, or post without permission.

Click here for top of this page

Purchase this story for your website or newsletter . . .

Here's what subscribers say about Inclusion Daily Express. . .

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for ten days FREE . . .

Get your news here!