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Saving Mae Magouirk

Mae Magouirk was transported from the hospice in LaGrange, Ga., to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, where she is now receiving adequate care. According to her nephew, Ken Mullinax, bloggers and their readers played a significant role in helping Mae’s plight be made known and motivating the necessary parties to act.

Thanks to Terri's friends...It would never ever have been possible without bloggers who love life and the truth! I am racing from my home to UAB now and will type a detailed update after I see my Aunt Mae! Thanks, guys, your calls, emails, blogs and prayers did it all!!!

The fundamental problem with Mae’s prior placement in a hospice is that she was put there to die in preference to a known and viable treatment. She was not dying until proper medical care, nutrition, and hydration were withheld. Underscoring this point is the fact that three doctors determined that she was a viable candidate for further treatment which resulted in her recent transfer from the hospice to a hospital where she is recovering from the lack of adequate nourishment and hydration.

The delivery of Mae into the care of a hospice where treatment and adequate nourishment and hydration would be purposefully withheld/withdrawn leading to her death is passive euthanasia – letting someone die when you can do something about it. And it is wrong.

It was also done against Mae’s will.

Assertions have been made that nourishment and hydration were not denied. However, such claims are a matter of semantics. Those who make these claims need to answer why Mae was found to be so dehydrated that the attending physician at UAB hospital stated that it will take at least two days of intense hydration therapy to get her back to an acceptable level. They also need to answer why a feeding tube was not given to Mae when her living will expressly states, "nourishment/fluids shall BE DENIED ONLY IF I am comatose or vegetative." [more here]

Ken Mullinax told the Birmingham news [HT: Sierra Faith], "Hospice is only for the dying, and my aunt has many more years to live," he said. "A crime was being committed by having a person in a hospice who was not terminally ill. I hope that this never ever happens again."

I would like to know why a non-terminal patient needed three doctors to approve her transfer to a facility where she would receive adequate care, which included nourishment and hydration. Perhaps Judge Boyd will explain this and why medical power of attorney was given to someone who was not Mae’s closest relative. It is also important that someone, such as Judge Boyd, explain why the use of an IV drip to re-hydrate Mae was blocked on April 1st.

Someone will need to explain why it was only after Mae was put into a hospice to die that three doctors determined that she should be treated instead.

Mae is safe, for now. However, given the events of the last two weeks, it will be important the bloggers and their readers to continue to follow events and hold accountable those who now control her fate.

See BlogsforTerri and Wizbangblog for more.

Cross-posted at BlogsforTerri

Posted by tim at April 11, 2005 4:35 AM

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