TX Hospital to Pull the Plug on Toddler

According to sources close to the case, the hospital panel did not cite a medical reason for denying treatment, but decided that, in their opinion, Lewis' quality of life did not meet their threshold to continue treatment.

Lewis' mother reached out to Texas Right to Life, which provided a lawyer to fight for Lewis' case. The time window of 10 days has been criticized by opponents of the law, who claim it is not enough time for a grieving family to look for a new hospital or seek the legal assistance to petition a court.

Texas Right to Life aggressively lobbied at the 86th Texas Legislative Session earlier this year to eliminate the 10-Day Rule in order to prevent hospitals from arbitrarily deciding to terminate treatment, thus ending a patient's life.

On Sept. 20, Texas Right to Life invited supporters to join them in Austin. Citizens from all over the state presented public testimonies to legislators, with the overwhelming majority in favor of eliminating the 10-Day Rule through Senate Bill 2089:

The purpose of this Act is to protect the right of patients and their families to decide whether and under what circumstances to choose or reject life-sustaining treatment. This Act amends the applicable provisions of the Advance Directives Act (Chapter 166, Health and Safety Code) to ensure that, when an attending physician is unwilling to respect a patient’s advance directive or a patient’s or family’s decision to choose the treatment necessary to prevent the patient’s death, life-sustaining medical treatment will be provided until the patient can be transferred to a health care provider willing to honor the directive or treatment decision.

Instead of supporting the fight to abolish the 10-Day Rule, they've been met with resistance from the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with Texas Alliance for Life and representatives of Catholic hospitals.

Jennifer Allmon, executive director for the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, has tried to rationalize ending patients' lives by claiming that "sometimes medical interventions are actually harmful to the human body and constitutes violence to patients."

Evelyn Kelly spoke to legislators on behalf of her son, Chris Dunn, whose son died in the care of Houston Methodist Hospital.

Kelly claimed those supporting the 10-Day Rule lied about the circumstances of her son's case to lawmakers in order to advance their cause.

The entire testimony for the pro-life bills can be viewed here, starting at 2:23:00.