HOUSTON – Forty-six-year-old Chris Dunn was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center eight weeks ago with a large mass on this pancreas. He’s very sick and has a breathing tube down his throat.
“It’s like a domino effect inside his body,” said Evelyn Kelly, Dunn's mom. “When you have something twisting around your small intestines it affects your liver and your kidneys.”
Now, Kelly is in a legal battle with Methodist Hospital, fighting over who should make decisions about her son’s care.
According to an advocate with the group Texas Right to Life, which is working with the family, the hospital filed an injunction seeking custodial guardianship of Dunn. If granted, this would legally prevent Kelly from making decisions about her son’s care.
“Someone is going to waltz in here and tell me I don’t have any control over my son?” Kelly said. “ I don’t think so. I don’t think so.”
Kelly told KPRC the doctors want to remove her son’s breathing tube and give him medicine to make him comfortable.
She also wants his breathing tube removed but slowly, she thinks her son needs to be weaned off of it.
“They’re calling it ‘comfort care’ to ease Chris into his passing. I call it death,” she said. “He’s my son and I should say what has to happen to him. They say they’ve done everything they can for him.”
A judge will now decide who should make the decisions.
In a statement, Houston Methodist Hospital said:
“We want to express our deepest sympathies and offer our prayers to the family during this difficult time. Out of respect for the family and because of patient privacy laws, we cannot discuss the particulars of the case. We are providing the best possible care to the patient and we continue to care for him. We are working with the courts to get guidance on who should make decisions for the patient. Within the patient’s family there is disagreement on the appropriate end-of-life care for this patient. We feel strongly that every decision we have made is in the best interest of the patient, and the Houston Methodist staff works hard and compassionately every day to help families who are facing difficult end-of-life issues.”
“I’m doing everything I can,” Kelly said. “I do a lot of praying. It’s all up to the Lord now.”
The family’s Texas Right to Life advocate told KPRC Dunn's only recourse is to find another facility that will offer him an ICU bed. “It’s a daunting task on a rushed time frame for anyone,“ John Seago said n a statement. “But even more so for patients without insurance such as Chris.”