Lawmakers' verdict: 'Don't starve woman'

Members of the Delaware House of Representatives have approved a resolution declaring "it is against the public policy of this state" for food and water to be withheld from a 24-year-old woman left with brain injuries following a drug overdose.

The case of Lauren Richardson is reminiscent of that of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who died after courts ruled doctors could follow her husband's orders to deprive her of food and water until she died.

The Schiavo case, on which WND reported exhaustively, ended in March 2005 when she died, despite a battle by her parents who wanted to care for her to overturn a court order allowing the removal of her feeding tube.

Randy Richardson, Lauren's father, now is battling his former wife, the medical establishment and the court system for the life of his daughter.

Judie Brown of the American Life League has issued a call to those who are concerned about such cases to help.

"The governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner, is being asked by pro-life Americans across this nation to intervene in this case in order to save Lauren from what many fear is an imminent court order dictating that Lauren be starved and dehydrated to death," she wrote. "I am asking you to be one of those who communicates your passionate belief that Lauren's life is sacred and deserves to be protected from those who would order her death. The governor's e-mail address is [email protected]"

Brown said "it has been a source of ongoing sadness to read of the difficulties Lauren Richardson's father has had over the course of the past several months.

"For those of you who are not familiar with her case, Lauren overdosed on heroin on August 28, 2006. She suffered oxygen deprivation as a result of the overdose and Lauren is now ... unable to speak out for herself. At the time of the overdose Lauren was expecting a baby. Her parents honored what they knew would have been her wish and did all they could to keep her healthy and comfortable until the child was born. Today, though Lauren may not be aware of it, she is the mother of Ember Grace, who was born in February 2007," Brown wrote.

Lauren's condition is revealed in a video that has been posted on YouTube:

"Since the birth of her daughter Lauren remains unable to speak of her concerns, but she has a loving father who is doing all he can to protect her from suffering the same fate as Terri Schiavo. However, Lauren's mother, who has been named her legal guardian, is sadly not of the same opinion and is working with attorneys to pressure the courts to permit Lauren's starvation," Brown wrote.

Lauren's father confirmed, "We struggle at times as we seek to share with the public the details of what is happening with Lauren because of the disagreement we have with Lauren's mother. We cannot understand her reasoning in refusing a path of hope, healing and restoration for Lauren and insisting on causing her death by withholding food and water from her. The issue in Lauren's case is the eternal truth that all people, no matter what their medical condition, bear the image of God and deserve basic care and an opportunity to be restored to health."

Now the state House of Representatives has issued an unequivocal statement about the value of lives, including Lauren's:

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the 144th General Assembly of the State of Delaware that it is against the public policy of this State and this State's interest in life, health and safety, for hydration and nutrition that is not harming a patient to be involuntarily removed from a non-terminal, apparently brain-incapacitated patient if doing so will cause the individual's death. Furthermore, such withholding of hydration and nutrition without: 1) clear written direction from a legally competent patient or, 2) a valid written advance health-care directive that was previously executed by a patient who is now incapacitated and that either allows such withholding under such circumstances or grants an agent authority to make that decision by an incapacitated patient is also against the public policy of the State of Delaware.

The lawmakers' plan cites the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which "asserts that 'everyone has the right to recognition as a person before the law' and that 'all are equal before the law.'"

They also cite the Americans with Disabilities Act that "clearly identifies the rights of the disabled to access essential needs and have essential services provided to them."

Further, they affirm, "it is becoming increasingly apparent that persons who are suffering from severe brain injuries often have cognitive functions significantly beyond what medical science previously estimated."

Finally, they determine, "it is also becoming increasingly apparently that the diagnosis of 'persistent vegetative state' or 'PVS' is a category that recent science shows is far more uncertain and overly broad than had been previously thought, including a high rate of misdiagnoses of PVS patients who have not been able to exhibit responses, but whose consciousness can now sometimes be measured."

In an explanatory note accompany the resolution, the lawmakers said: "This Resolution establishes protections for mentally disabled individuals in the State of Delaware. The impetus for this Resolution comes from the case of Lauren Richardson, a 24-year-old Delaware woman who, after suffering brain injuries and impaired consciousness, now faces the possible removal of her nutrition and hydration, despite the absence of her clearly specified and legal consent to any such a course of action. The State of Delaware has, through recent legislation prompted by the abuses at the Delaware Psychiatric Center, endeavored to protect the rights of mentally disabled patients in the First State. Lauren, as a mentally disabled person, is enumerated those same protection and rights."

On a blog commentary about the situation, Wesley J. Smith said, "Too many of us dismiss people like Lauren – and I am not referring here to her mother who wants treatment stopped – as 'vegetables' (a word that should not be used as it is as demeaning and dehumanizing as the odious N-word), 'brain dead' (as the Orlando Sentinel unrepentantly did for so long regarding Terri), or other such denigration. Meanwhile, some bioethicists look longingly at these people as 'living cadavers' who can be harvested for their organs or used in medical experimentation. Good for the Delaware Assembly for not shrinking from such demagoguery."

A priest who was with Terri Schiavo during her final hours in this life later told WND society has it all wrong – because it does not understand the difference between a futile treatment and a futile life.

Father Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life, said even healthy people, if brain-injured, are in danger under the current precedent of cases.

"Terry left no indication that she wanted to be deprived of food and water. Yet the courts insisted that this happen. Nor was Terri lacking a family ready to care for her, without complaint. Yet they were not allowed to," he said.

Terri Schiavo

"Many people fear that they will be given all kinds of machines and medicines against their will," Pavone told WND. "What they should fear is exactly the opposite, namely, that even when they indicate that they want appropriate treatments, these will be denied them."

A Delaware court in January awarded guardianship of Lauren Richardson to her mother, Edith Towers, who has told reporters her daughter would want artificial life support ended.

Randy Richardson has appealed.

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