Andrea Clark Will Live!

Texas Right to Life has been working for the last three weeks with the family of Andrea Clark, a patient at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, who was slated to have all life-sustaining treatment (including food and water) removed against her wishes on Sunday, April 30th. This decision was made by Andrea's primary physician and then approved by the St. Luke's ethics committee—chaired by a prominent Houston abortionist, Robert J. Carpenter Jr. With mounting pressure generated by Andrea's family from the public, St. Luke’s arranged to transfer Andrea to an acute care facility in Illinois rather than withdrawing care. (See the transfer story in the Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3826053.html.)

However, minutes before the transfer was to occur last Friday, April 28th, St. Luke’s realized that the Illinois facility was a not adequately equipped to care for Andrea. Andrea's family was distraught to think that Andrea would be hanging in the balance at a facility that considered her life futile and effectively wanted her dead. The attorneys began some fast talking, and Andrea's care and treatment was indefinitely continued.

On Tuesday, May 2, the treatment team at St. Luke's convened to further discuss Andrea's condition and treatment plan. At this meeting, Dr. Matthew Lenz, a physician with privileges at St. Luke's, transferred Andrea's care into his own hands. This physician became involved at the request of Texas Right to Life and has since taken a personal interest in protecting Andrea's life. His goal is to nurse Andrea back to a point where she can then be transferred to another facility for further rehabilitation. Andrea's condition is very fragile, and she requires a lot of specialized care, yet her condition is no justification for speeding her to her death by abruptly ending treatment and care that has been working. Dr. Lenz is now the new attending physician, and he has already begun to see improvements in her care. Andrea must undergo a surgery tomorrow to have her septic gall bladder removed, and this surgery does pose risks to Andrea's fragile condition, but the removal of the diseased organ should lend to Andrea's overall improvement.

While St. Luke’s has not made this process easy, St. Luke's has now offered the full support of the administration and of other specialists to assist Dr. Lenz in caring for Andrea. While the futility law and St. Luke's policy remain problematic, St. Luke's is now committed to preserving Andrea's life and confirmed that the futility statute will not again be invoked as long as Andrea is under Dr. Lenz’s care. The heroes in this battle are Andrea's siblings and son who fought for her life and cried from every mountaintop for help. Please join Texas Right to Life in praying for Andrea's recovery and in thanksgiving for the moral courage exhibited by Dr. Lenz in challenging St. Luke's and in sacrificing his personal time to treat and protect Andrea.

Please forward any kudos for Dr. Lenz to ProLife@TexasRightToLife.com, and your praise will be forwarded to him.

Texas Right to Life is the oldest and largest prolife organization in Texas, seeking to defend innocent human life from the moment of fertilization until natural death through legal, peaceful, and prayerful means.

Letter that was filed by Andrea Clark's attorney, Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D.

National Right to Life Press Release on Andrea Clark -- May 1, 2006