Progress in the War Against Conscience Rights

by Nancy Valko, RN

As I wrote in my 2016 blog “Conscientious Objection, Conscience Rights and Workplace Discrimination” :

The tragic cases of Nancy Cruzan and Christine Busalacchi , young Missouri women who were claimed to be in a “persistent vegetative state” and starved and dehydrated to death, outraged those of us in Missouri Nurses for Life and we took action.

Besides educating people about severe brain damage, treatment, cases of recovery and the radical change in medical ethics that could lead to the legalization of euthanasia, we also fought for healthcare providers’ rights against workplace discrimination for refusing to participate in deliberate death decisions. We talked to nurses who were threatened with termination.

Although Missouri had some protections against forcing participating in abortion, there were no statutes we could find where health care providers were protected against being forced to participate in deliberate death decisions. We were also told by some legislators that our chance of success was almost nil.

Nevertheless, we persisted and after years of work and enduring legislators watering down our original proposal to include lethal overdoses and strong penalties, Missouri Revised Statutes, Section 404.872.1 was finally signed into law in 1992. It states:

Refusal to honor health care decision, discrimination prohibited, when.

404.872. No physician, nurse, or other individual who is a health care provider or an employee of a health care facility shall be discharged or otherwise discriminated against in his employment or employment application for refusing to honor a health care decision withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment if such refusal is based upon the individual’s religious beliefs, or sincerely held moral convictions.

(L. 1992 S.B. 573 & 634 § 7)

(Continue Reading)

Pennsylvania jury acquits pro-life activist Mark Houck on charges of obstructing abortion clinic access

By Louis Casiano | Fox News

A jury has reportedly acquitted Pennsylvania pro-life activist who was accused of allegedly pushing a Planned Parenthood escort during a clash outside an abortion clinic, Life News reported.

Mark Houck, 48, faced charges that he violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person produces reproductive health care. He pleaded not guilty. 

The charge stems from an Oct. 13, 2021 incident in which the Biden Administration alleged Houck assaulted and “forcefully shoved” Bruce Love, a 72-year-old volunteer at a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood.

Photo of pro-life Pennsylvania man Mark Houck with his family. Houck was found not guilty by a Pennsylvania jury of violating a federal abortion interference law. (Thomas More Society)

Houck was arrested in his home by multiple FBI agents in September 2022.

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, celebrated the news of Houck’s acquittal with a tweet. 

“Good. Begs question of the $48 billion we give to DOJ…,” he wrote. 

Shortly after Houck’s arrest last fall, his attorney Peter Breen told Fox News Digital that his client’s arrest was an “outrageous abuse of power” from the Department of Justice that was intended to intimidate pro-life Americans.

“The message from the Biden Department of Justice is pure intimidation against pro-life people and people of faith,” said Breen, senior counsel of the Thomas More Society. “Why in the world would you send this phalanx of officers heavily armed to this family’s home, violate the sanctity of their home, frighten their children? Why would you do that, other than just to send a message?  (Continue Reading)

Full Article & Source:
Pennsylvania jury acquits pro-life activist Mark Houck on charges of obstructing abortion clinic access 

Starving Patients to Death is Legal in Every State in America

Opinion   |   Bobby Schindler

On June 24th, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the legally deficient 1973 ruling that a woman had a “constitutional right” to kill her unborn child.

Much of the credit was given to President Donald Trump for choosing Supreme Court justices who properly interpreted our nation’s Constitution. The pro-life community that devoted their time and resources and resolved to upend the law decriminalizing abortion is also due a significant amount of credit. Now, the battle to protect the unborn shifts to the laws of each individual state.

While this monumental ruling will certainly protect countless unborn babies, there currently exists a thriving Roe vs Wade type law that has a similar goal to end the lives of the medically vulnerable, as Roe did on the unborn. This law redefines feeding tubes, which provide a patient’s food and hydration, from basic and ordinary care to medical treatment and artificial life support.

Essentially, the redefinition of feeding tubes went unnoticed and as a result, it is now legal in all 50 states to either deny or remove a patient’s feeding tube – even against the expressed wishes of the patients – directly causing the patient’s death by dehydration and starvation.

In his book, Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, author and bioethicist, Wesley J. Smith writes that “defining ‘artificial nutrition’ as treatment instead of human care was a crucial step in the development of the culture of death.”

According to Smith, as far back as the early 1980’s, bioethicists like Daniel Callahan saw the feeding tube as a serious hurdle, openly stating that changing its classification from “basic care” to “medical treatment” would be “the only effective way to make certain that a large number of biologically tenacious patients actually die.”

Eventually, Callahan’s view became widely accepted. This included a 1986 opinion by the American Medical Association (AMA) that listed feeding tubes as medical treatment instead of a basic requirement for life, fundamentally changing the medical definition of receiving food and hydration by feeding tubes. This new meaning invites all kinds of scenarios that can end the lives of patients who either require feeding tubes permanently or temporarily until they can relearn how to eat and drink.

Take for example, the 2005 case of my sister Terri Schiavo, who needed a feeding tube after experiencing a brain injury and having difficulty swallowing. Her guardian and estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, incentivized by his adulterous affair and also monetarily by the close to a million dollars he would inherit upon Terri’s death, invented a story and subsequently lied to a judge, alleging Terri would rather die than live in in a disabled condition.

This revelation surfaced years after Terri’s unexplained brain injury when Michael conveniently remembered Terri’s desire to die just after she received a million dollar malpractice payout that Michael vowed would be used for Terri’s lifelong rehabilitation.

Nonetheless, the judge ruled in his favor and permitted the removal of Terri’s feeding tube, inhumanely starving and dehydrating her to death. A slow and horrific killing that took almost two weeks.

Indeed, Terri’s case alerted the public that feeding tubes can be removed from a family member – even when someone purposely lies and financially benefits from the inhumane and unjust death sentence. However, 17 years after Terri’s death, nothing has changed as dehydrating to death persons like Terri continues every single day.

Even more, this injustice is worsening because the bureaucratic killing apparatus deep-rooted in our healthcare system saves billions of dollars by rationing ongoing care, making it easy and desirable to kill. Not to mention that, unlike the zeal to protect the unborn, there is no urgency or serious effort to protect our medically vulnerable. Bear in mind, all of this was occurring prior to the medical bullying triggered by Covid-19.  (Continue Reading)

Full Article & Source:
Starving Patients to Death is Legal in Every State in America

Another Very Open Letter to the Apathetic Congress

Dear Apathetic Congress:

I’ve had it. Not only have I had it – there’s an over-flow of company crowded into this corner of opinion.

How can you sit there and fail to take action to remove Mueller from his apparent “free to do whatever he wants” position?

Mueller is making a mockery of the rule of law and so are you by your inaction.

In real life, where the rules count more, Mueller would not be allowed to proceed with all these OBVIOUS “in your face” conflicts of interest. And, no doubt, someone would have filed numerous ethic violation complaints on him, Comey & Rosenstein right at the onset. Yet, in your world of political calculation – you turn a blind eye to his inappropriateness and pretend not to hear us. How politician of you!

Maybe in the past, you were able to blow off the silent majority because they didn’t rock the boat too awfully bad, but times have changed. The silent majority is silent no more, as many have told you over the past year or so. They meant it. I mean it. It’s time you realize it.

You, by your inaction, are making a mockery of the rule of law. You are showing us that we have no reason to trust the system ruled over by the Federal government. You are showing us we have no reason to trust you.

The short of the story is…

Mueller should never have been appointed to anything, but he was.

Upon realization that Mueller does have a conflict – he should have been immediately removed.

You have thus far failed to do anything about correcting this error. That is not acceptable. It will never be acceptable.

Should you continue to ignore our rightful complaint about this wrong and wrongful behavior – you will have broken your oath of office and therefore – have no further right to be a member of Congress. Instead, you will be an accessory to any violation and law broken as a result of your failure to take appropriate action.

It’s up to you to do the right thing.

Will you?

Copyright © 2017 Carrie K. Hutchens

CONTACT 13: Another guardian charged with abuse

jason_hansonby  Darcy Spears

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) – Another private guardian was charged with abuse of a vulnerable person on Thursday.

The young victim in the case was the first to come forward and talk with Contact 13 about corruption in the guardianship system.

Jason Hanson’s guardianship case was supposed to end when he became an adult. But Contact 13 discovered the court kept it open for seven years after his 18th birthday. And during that time, several so-called professionals came in and out of his life while the money set aside for his care dwindled away.

Darcy:Did you get lost in the system or do you think it’s more sinister than that?
Jason:I don’t know if I got lost in the system or if it was more underhanded than that. But the system definitely needs to change.” 

(Click to Continue)

Article & Source:
CONTACT 13: Another guardian charged with abuse

Voters Guide – Election 2016

Don’t be drawn into the spin!
Seek the facts!
Consider carefully!
November 8th determines our future as a country!

voters-guide

Democratic Rep. Bill Patmon on Planned Parenthood Body Parts Videos

Rep. Bill Patmon notices the little secret of Planned Parenthood.

It isn’t the friend & savior of the Black community!

On the contrary!

~*~

Source:
Democratic Rep. Bill Patmon on Planned Parenthood Body Parts Videos

See Also:
African-American Ohio Dem: ‘Black Lives Matter Protesters…Should be in Front of Planned Parenthood’

Non – Brain Death Organ Donation

Part One

Nancy Valko 4By Nancy Valko, RN, ALNC

Most people who sign organ donor cards assume that they will be carefully diagnosed as “brain dead” before their organs are donated. That was generally true years ago, but a new non-brain death organ donation procedure was developed in the 1990s even though the language on organ donor cards did not change.

The current non-brain death organ donation policy started with ethics journal articles in the 1990s. At that time, it was called “non-heart beating donation” and promoted as a way to increase the supply of organs for transplant beyond the usual “brain death” organ donations. This was made possible by linking organ donation to withdrawal of treatment decisions from people considered hopelessly ill or dying but who did not meet the criteria for “brain death.”

This change in policy came in the wake of court decisions upholding the right to refuse treatment for incapacitated patients like Nancy Cruzan, a brain-injured woman said to be in a so-called “vegetative state.”

Since Dr. George Isajiw and I presented the following paper (“Non-heart beating organ donation” and the “vegetative state”) in 2004, the term “non-heart beating organ donation” has been changed to “donation after cardiac death” (DCD) and now around 5% of organ donations are from nonbrain death organ donors.[i] The numbers are expected to increase with organ donation policies such as the following: In June 1996, the American Medical Association issued its opinion that non-brain death organ donation was ethical.[ii] Eventually, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (Joint Commission) required all hospitals to develop policies for DCD, effective January 2007, while the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) proposed new bylaw amendments requiring all transplant centers and Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) to develop DCD policies by January 1, 2007.[iii]

Moreover, hospitals currently are being asked to report all deaths, imminent deaths and potential organ donor situations to the local organ procurement organization. Years ago, when only brain death criteria could be used, doctors themselves talked to families about organ donation. Now, many hospitals have policies that only trained organ donation representatives talk to families about donation. Such policies are said to increase the number of families consenting to organ donation.

In Part Two, I will discuss other strategies to increase the number of organ donations.

[i] “The Challenge of Organ Donation After Cardiac Death,” Matt Wood, Science Life, 02/20/2014; http://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2014/02/20/the-challenge-of-organ-donation-after-cardiac-death

[ii] “Opinion 2.157 – Organ Donation After Cardiac Death,” AMA Code of Medical Ethics, issued 06/1996 and updated 06/2005; http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-ethics/code-medical-ethics/opinion2157.page

[iii] “Donation After Cardiac Death: Analysis and Recommendations from the New York State Task Force on Life &the Law,03/17/2007;http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/task_force/donation_after_cardiac_death/docs/donation_after_cardiac_death.pdf

Nancy ValkoNancy Valko, RN, ALNC, has been a registered nurse for 45 years and is a spokesperson for the National Association of Prolife Nurses (www.nursesforlife.org). A long-time speaker and writer on medical ethics and other health issues, she has a website at: http://www.wf-f.org/bd-nvalko.html.She is also now a legal nurse consultant (www.valkogroupalnc.com ).

Source:
Newsletter for the Pro-Life Healthcare Alliance

 

This article is printed with permission.