Friday, April 28, 2006

The Andrea Clark Case - Breaking News Coming

Hyscience blogged We've just received breaking news from a representative of the family of Andrea Clark about incredible and reprehensible actions underway by St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas.

The family learned of a facility in Illinois that is willing to accept Andrea and offer her the opportunity to live, an expensive move that would require Andrea to be far removed from her family.

However, placing corporate greed ahead of all patient interests and the interests and wishes of the family, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital has just notified the family that they are willing to pay the almost $17,000 to move Andrea to Illinois if they will immediately - that's TODAY, move Andrea out of St. Lukes to the Illinois facility. If the family waits until tomorow to decide, St. Lukes will only pay half. And if the family can't make a decision by tomorow, the hospital may consider to pay absolutely nothing.

Why is St Lukes so eager to get her out of their hospital?
In other words, the hospital is attempting to force Andrea out of the hospital in order to stop the financial drain of the cost of her care.

Meanwhile, the family is struggling to find a facility in Texas that will accept Andrea, who has insurance, but is being squeezed also by the insurance company. Is this fair?
No it is not fair. Unlike the Terri Schiavo case she has clearly says she wants to live, and she has insurance, but the insurance company and the hospital wants to kill her so they will save some money.
Danny Carlton blogged I wonder if the Episcopal church has anything to say about a hospital bearing their name acting in such an inhuman manner.

Wizbang blogged Andrea isn't out of the woods quite yet, but this is certainly good news.

Right Wing News blogged Andrea no longer trusts St. Luke's Hospital to look after her sister's welfare and she's worried that if Andrea were to end up in another Texas hospital, she might be declared medically futile again. So, the ideal situation would be to get her into a hospital in a nearby state, so that her family would have easy access to her. Illinois is a long way from Houston and the idea of having her sister in intensive care, far away from her home and family, is naturally very upsetting, but unfortunately, it may be the only option they really have.

Melanie told me the family is going to be discussing St. Luke's offer to pay for the transportation to the Illinois facility tonight and if they accept it, she believes that Andrea will be moved tomorrow.

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