In June 2020, 24-year-old Margo Naranjo sustained a severe brain injury after she was involved in a multi-vehicle auto accident. Although the doctor’s prognosis was poor, her parents’ love for her and their strong Catholic faith provided the hope they needed. Leaning on their faith, they used social media to request prayers for strength and […]
– yet, they keep updating their guidelines. That alone should give us pause. This newest iteration actually changes the definition of brain death from “irreversible” cessation of all brain function to “permanent” loss of function. The Uniform Law Commission recently declined to adopt this change because it is too subjective. A permanent brain injury is
General Principles This document sets forth general principles and attempts to help people advocate for themselves and their loved ones. Patients and their families are in the best position to determine to what degree this advice pertains to them and can assist them in advocating for their loved ones. What is contained in this document is not legal
EFFECTIVELY NAVIGATING HOSPITALS WHEN ADVOCATING FOR A LOVED ONE Read More »
The items in this plan of action are always necessary but have become an urgent need during our current time of crisis. The crises resulting from Covid-19 are grave. These have included the sickness and death caused by the virus itself, overreach by healthcare officials in not allowing visitation of seriously ill and dying loved
SPIRITUAL PROTOCOL FOR DIVINE ASSISTANCE AND TIMELY HELP Read More »
Statement of the Healthcare Civil Rights Task Force Parents have always been responsible for raising, caring for, and loving their children. The duty of parents is to act in the best interests of their children, who have been entrusted to them by God. The family is foundational to the good of society. The family is the vehicle for God’s love to spread into
THE MORAL IMPERATIVE TO RESTORE AND ADVANCE PARENTAL RIGHTS Read More »
Emily Cook, Texas Right to Life’s General Counsel, presents the three points you NEED to know about brain death diagnosis in Texas, including the three questions you ABSOLUTELY MUST ask the doctors caring for your loved one.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BRAIN DEATH IN TEXAS Read More »
PATIENT ADVOCATES PUT COMPASSION INTO ACTION Visiting the sick is a work of mercy. Patient advocates manifest mercy by showing compassion to sick and suffering people. Compassion means “to suffer with” another, to put our kindly inclinations—which we are often tempted to resist—into action through readiness to assist. A person who accompanies a medically vulnerable
PATIENT ADVOCATES ARE DESPERATELY NEEDED: PART II Read More »
Physical and cognitive disability should not mean one’s situation is considered “end of life,” yet too many persons who are not dying are described this way. Earlier this year, Oregon’s state legislature considered a bill that would have increased the number of medically vulnerable persons at risk of an untimely death. Oregon’s SB 494 would
BASIC CARE, HUMAN DIGNITY, AND CARE FOR MEDICALLY VULNERABLE PERSONS Read More »
PATIENT ADVOCATES NURTURE HOPE I have served as a volunteer patient advocate for 35 years. The deepest kinds of suffering I encounter are profound unhappiness and loneliness, resulting in loss of hope. It is difficult for people who are intensely unhappy to believe that they will ever be happy again. That is when they desperately
PATIENT ADVOCATES ARE DESPERATELY NEEDED: PART I Read More »