When we reflect on 2020, many of us recall a sense of simultaneous joy and despair. Texas law is already shockingly hostile to the sick and infirm, and the fear of the COVID-19 crisis gave hospitals further excuses to decry the value of human Life. Our patient advocates saw the reality firsthand by walking with families side-by-side in advocating for their loved one to be treated and given a fair shot at recovering from their illnesses. We saw each patient not as “a bed being used up,” as we have been told countless times, but as someone’s father, someone’s daughter, someone’s sibling, and someone. To their families, these patients were everything.
And that’s what makes your ministry at Texas Right to Life different. We see people, not bed spaces. We see families, not dollar signs. We see one patient at a time whose life is worthy simply because we are all human.
Do you know what happened to the first COVID-19 patient in Travis County? His physician placed a Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) order on him, telling his wife such action was “COVID-19 protocol.” How did Texas Right to Life react? One of our courageous staff members, at risk to her own health, drove the patient’s wife to the hospital to combat this unauthorized DNR in person. The patient soon recovered and returned home.
Despite successful ongoing litigation against the deadly Texas 10-Day Rule, hospitals have still been bent in 2020 on starting the 10-day countdown on numerous patients’ lives. Each time a family reached out to Texas Right to Life, our patient advocates and legal team were successful in stopping the countdown. Take for example two patients: Shannon* in East Texas and Juan* in Amarillo. Doctors said, “He will never get better; we need his bed for other patients,” and “She will never wake up.” Praise God: Not only did Juan wake up, but he is able to talk to his family today. Not only did Shannon get better, but she is able to recognize the voices of her mother and her two young sons. Each of these Texans, irreplaceable to their families and in the eyes of God, would have been dead due to the premature removal of their ventilators pursuant to the Texas 10-Day Rule.
While Texas Right to Life has been incredibly successful this year in protecting the patients whose families have walked through our *virtual* doors, we are equally saddened. You see, Texas Right to Life’s work shouldn’t be needed.
But we will continue to show up every day, in every way we know how to serve the vulnerable.
Will you show up too with an end-of-year gift to our Family Assistance Fund?
Our Family Assistance Fund covers legal representation, transportation costs and second opinions to the families who call Texas Right to Life. This is the most direct way to minister to families like Juan’s and Shannon’s.
Thank you for partnering with Texas Right to Life and ensuring we are ready for whatever 2021 brings.
*Patient names changed to protect privacy.
