Rather than respect Chris Dunn’s expressed desire to live, Houston Methodist Hospital has redoubled efforts to exercise authority over his Right to Life.
Despite the tireless efforts of his mother, his attorney, and our Texas Right to Life staff, the American hero’s fate still rests in the discriminatory hands of the hospital, which continues to fight to kill Chris by removing him from breathing assistance. Chris and his supporters saw a glimmer of hope this week when a physician at the hospital agreed to help prepare Chris for transfer to a different facility (which would respect his desire to live). However, that hope quickly faded when Chris’s biological father objected to the tracheostomy required for the transfer. Chris’s mother, Evelyn – who has been advocating at her son’s bedside from day one – does want her son to receive the procedure; in the face of the disagreement, the doctor reversed his decision.
Now, Houston Methodist has posted guards outside of Chris’s hospital room, prohibiting anyone from taking Chris’s photo or filming him. These extreme steps are precautionary measures against the bad publicity that will ensue if the hospital kills Chris despite the fact that he is alert and communicating his desire to live. Texas Right to Life has already shared such footage, and the proof captured the attention of local and national media, galvanizing many to action on Chris’s behalf. Hundreds of thousands of Pro-Lifers have heard Chris’s story, signed our petition to #HelpChrisSeeChristmas, and registered to participate in our December 21 Thunderclap.
What next?
Right now, the hospital is fighting a legal battle to seize custodial guardianship of Chris. If the hospital obtains guardianship, Chris will be robbed of his most powerful advocate, his mother, who is currently his medical decision maker. If Houston Methodist Hospital has their way in carrying out the provision of the draconian Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA), which allows them to kill patients against their will, Chris will die within the next few weeks.
Medically speaking, the delay in transferring Chris to a welcoming facility poses a separate set of dangers. If Chris cannot receive the procedure that will prepare him for transfer soon, he faces the probability of permanent speech loss at best, and complications that could lead to his death in the transfer process at worst. Time is of the essence.
Chris deserves a diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment plan. Houston Methodist has invested no time or effort in Chris’s health, instead exerting their energies into trying to kill him instead. The hospital, in fact, has provided Chris with nothing more than a “visual assessment” to determine that he has cancer, which they did just days ago after severe media scrutiny.
Help us protect Chris and others like him from the inhumane provisions of the Texas Advance Directives Act and anti-Life physicians and hospitals. Share Chris’s story with your family and friends – both in-person and through social media. Tweet with the hash tag #HelpChrisSeeChristmas. And please, take three minutes to call or email Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom at 713-441-2671 or mboom@tmhs.org to tell him that Chris deserves to live.
If you live in Texas, now is the time to contact your legislators in Austinto tell them to repeal the draconian Texas Advance Directives Act that allows a hospital to take Chris’s life.