St Luke's Reneges: Andrea Clark's Life Is Still In Jeopardy

Right Wing News I've just spoken with Andrea's sisters, Melanie Childers and Lanore Dixon, today, as well as Andrea's lawyer, Jerri Ward.

Unfortunately, St. Luke's has reneged on the deal. Lanore told me that about 20 minutes before Andrea was supposed to be moved to the Illinois facility, St. Luke's told the family the move was off. It seems that St. Luke's decided at the last minute that Glenshire Nursing & Rehab Centre in Illinois isn't equipped to care for Andrea, which is a bit puzzling, since Lanore told me they helped set up the transfer in the first place.

If the Illinois facility does not plan to kill her in the next week, they are better equiped to care for her than St Luke's is.

Did St Luke's refuse to transfer, or did they just withdraw their agreement to cover the cost.

If the former, then can they prove she would have died sooner in Illinois than in Houston? And if the latter, do they think that the bad publicity they will now receive will cost them less than the transportation cost sending her to Illinois?

This means that Andrea's life is still in danger. Jerri tells me that the hospital has only promised, in writing, to not pull the plug on Andrea on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. But, from Tuesday on, they're reserving the right to pull her life support at any time after giving "reasonable" notice to the family. Is there such a thing as "reasonable" notice that you're about to end an innocent woman's life against her wishes and the wishes of her family?

In any case, on Tuesday, the hospital has a meeting scheduled about Andrea and the one sliver of good news is that the family says they have a doctor with privileges at St. Luke's who is willing to go in and argue that Melanie is not medically futile. Whether that will make a difference is impossible to say at this point.

The bottom line here is that according to Andrea Clark's family, St. Luke's has not lived up to their end of the bargain and has only agreed in writing to extend Andrea's life one day beyond the old deadline of Sunday. That is absolutely outrageous, especially given the way that St. Luke's bragged about taking care of this issue to the Houston Chronicle, in an article that came out BEFORE the deal was cancelled