Texas mother pleads to doctor to restore son's food and water

This is another one of those heart-wrenching stories of food and water being withheld from a patient – essentially being condemned to death by dehydration and starvation:

Spero News reports:

[...] Upon transfer, Zach was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. Heavily sedated and connected to a ventilator, doctors painted a grim picture for his parents. Cook medical officials told the boy’s parents that part of Zach’s brain was removed during his emergency surgery. The doctors told them that his prognosis for survival was poor and encouraged them to sign an organ donation consent form. They nearly did, but then discovered after an EEG that Zach’s brain was, in fact, intact. Cook officials said that there must have been miscommunication between the two hospitals.

But on August 13, the hospital convened an “ethics panel”, a legal entity where under Texas law medical officials can make a decision that care would be futile to restore the quality of a patient’s life. If they decide care would be futile, the hospital can terminate care after 10 days.

Needless to say, if your child is sick or injured, the very last place you want him or her to go to is Cook Children’s Medical Center in Ft. Worth, where “Ethics Panel” translates as “Death Panel” … and your child could be next.