Texas Attorney General Renounces Rule Threatening take Ventilator from 9-Month-Old Baby

Texas AG Kenneth Paxton

Tinslee Lewis, a 9-month-old baby at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth was issued a 10-day warning by the hospital on October 31st. Under Texas law, the hospital can deny a patient further treatment as long as they give a 10-day warning. Unless her family could find another hospital willing to offer her treatment and keep her hooked up to a ventilator, then she would have died on November 10th. The family found legal help to delay this deadline, and now the Texas Attorney General has stepped in as well.

“One of the core principles provided by the United States Constitution is that no person should be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law,” Texas Attorney General Paxton said. “This unconstitutional statute infringes on patients’ right to life and does not allow patients and their families sufficient notice and the opportunity to be heard before physicians override the rights of their patients. Patients must be heard and justly represented when determining their own medical treatment, especially when the decision to end treatment could end their life.”

A hearing will take place early in December to decide whether Tinslee's care at Cook Children’s Medical Center will be allowed to continue past December 10th.

Click here to read more.