Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Joins Texas Right to Life Condemning Actions of Houston Methodist Hospital

Contact: Tom Shakely, Executive Director, Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, 855-300-4674, ext 3, tshakely@lifeandhope.com 

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 15, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network stands with Texas Right to Life, calling for Houston Methodist Hospital to allow mother of Chris Dunn, Ms. Evelyn Kelly, to speak for Chris so that Chris continues living.

Chris Dunn, 46, and a former EMT, has been in the Houston hospital for more than eight weeks because he collapsed, likely due to a mass on his pancreas. While Chris breathes with assistance from a ventilator, he is conscience and alert. His mother has had to fight for Chris's continued care because Methodist Hospital has invoked the statutory process, found in the Texas Advanced Directives Act, which allows the hospital to override medical directives of a patient and provide only ten days' notice before withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.

Video documentation shows Chris communicating his desire to continue receiving treatment and a clear nod to the attorneys retained by his mother on Chris's behalf. Although Chris is quite ill and disabled, he is not suffering organ failure and is conscious and responsive when not sedated. Despite this, Methodist Hospital has applied to be the guardian for Chris in an attempt to cut Evelyn out of the decision-making process and to mitigate her legal interference.

Ms. Kelly contacted Texas Right to Life, and Texas Right to Life has helped her and Chris's family ensure that he continues to receive care. Spokeswoman for Texas Right to Life lamented the actions of the hospital, noting that Methodist is "going out of their way to remove the little legal protection Chris still has - revealing the lengths to which this hospital will go to ensure that the final authority of these life and death decisions remain in the hands of the physicians and hospital that does not see Chris's life as worth living."

"What is happening to Chris Dunn at Houston Methodist happens daily in medical facilities nationwide," says Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo and president of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.

Schindler continues, "The rights of patients and their family members have been abrogated and turned over to complete strangers - ethics committees, hospital boards and health care professionals. Even in such heartbreaking cases as Mr. Dunn, who is literally begging for his care to be continued, the hospital seems to be taking whatever action possible to remove him from its balance sheet. Hospital administrators should not be able to summarily deny the civil liberties of a disabled patient."

Visit Texas Right to Life to learn more about Houston Methodist's attempt to end the life of Chris Dunn and how you can help.

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was established by the family members of Terri Schiavo to serve the medically vulnerable, and has worked with more than 1,000 families since Terri's death. lifeandhope.com.