Austin Hospital Withheld Treatment from Disabled Man Who Contracted Coronavirus

[WhiskeyGrinder]

Michael Hickson, husband to Melissa and father of five children, died at age 46 on Thursday, June 11 at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center after the hospital withheld treatment from him, including hydration and nutrition, for six days.

His wife was not notified of his death until the next morning after his remains had already been transported to a funeral home without her permission.

Mr. Hickson became a quadriplegic in 2017 after a sudden cardiac arrest incident while driving his wife to work one morning. He had been in and out of hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and home for the last three years.

“He regained his personality, had memories of past events, loved to do math calculations, and answer trivia questions,” Mrs. Hickson said of her husband in an interview with The Texan.

The headline doesn't go far enough -- not only did they withhold treatment, they withheld food and water, too.

You can hear a recording of the doctor telling the wife Mr. Hickson doesn't have much of a quality of life here:

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I am guessing hot spot triage came into play here. This is as much on

the governor as anyone.

[LisaL]

4. That's what doctors have to do in those hot spots.

Patients are ranked by "points." Young healthy ones get more points and thus treatments. Old or ones with pre-existing conditions-forget about it.

[malaise]

2. What race was Michael Hinkson?

Sounds like a Barbadian name

[MrsCoffee]

5. Picture of him and his kids:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/07/05/coronavirus-disability-death/

[LisaL]

6. His wife wasn't his legal guardian.

His sister agreed that further treatment was futile.

[JI7]

7. I thought being his wife automatically made her legal gaurdian

[LisaL]

8. No, read the article link for the photo.

[malaise]

9. Thanks MrsCoffee

[lunasun]

10. Black disabled man

?quality=80&strip=all&w=618&h=410&crop=1

[LisaL]

3. As I found out from Terry Schiavo case, feeding tube is considered

a form of life support. So doctors don't have to provide hydration/nutrition if patient can't eat or drink himself or herself.

[mercuryblues]

12. Yes. But nutrition is separate from medication

You can have a living will that states no extreme measures which includes medication. Denial of nutrition has to be specifically included, or approved by the one in charge of medical decisions.

[LisaL]

15. I am sure it was legally approved. Like I said, his wife was not his legal guardian.

[mercuryblues]

21. I have no doubt that it was approved

[dalton99a]

17. The hospital said he was aspirating

he was aspirating—meaning that he was regurgitating the nutrients going into his body through his feeding tube, and they were going into his airways, causing his respiratory condition to worsen. Aspiration has the potential to be fatal, especially for a patient in a weakened physical state, like Mr. Hickson, and this was the reason his tube feedings were discontinued.

https://stdavids.com/about/newsroom/statement-on-the-death-of-michael-hickson

[LastDemocratInSC]

22. Aspiration in this case is a one way trip to pneumonia.

[Hugin]

11. The elephant-in-the-room question here is...

How did a quadriplegic contract the Corona virus in a care setting? It's not like he was going out to bars and partying hearty.

It was malpractice and someone should be held accountable.

[Ilsa]

13. My guess is that visitation to the long term care facility

was not shut down quickly enough. His own family or a caregiver could have infected him.

[LisaL]

16. There are lots of nurses and other people working in these long term care facilities.

Any of those could have become infected.

[dalton99a]

14. Statement from St. David's South Austin Medical Center:

https://stdavids.com/about/newsroom/statement-on-the-death-of-michael-hickson

Statement on the Death of Michael Hickson
St. David's HealthCare
July 02, 2020

...

Mr. Hickson was very, very ill when he arrived at our hospital. He was transferred to us from another facility with pneumonia in both lungs, a urinary tract infection and sepsis. He also had COVID-19. Despite aggressive treatment and one-to-one care, Mr. Hickson went into multi-system organ failure.

He had a number of complications. As one example, near the end of his life, he was aspirating—meaning that he was regurgitating the nutrients going into his body through his feeding tube, and they were going into his airways, causing his respiratory condition to worsen. Aspiration has the potential to be fatal, especially for a patient in a weakened physical state, like Mr. Hickson, and this was the reason his tube feedings were discontinued.

To act within the bounds of the law, my staff at the hospital communicated with Mr. Hickson’s court-appointed guardian, an organization called Family Eldercare. Although it isn’t common for guardianship to be taken away from a family member, a court will make that decision if they think it is in the patient’s best interest. In this situation, after an investigation and recommendations from the attorney appointed by the Court to evaluate what was in Mr. Hickson’s best interest, the Court declined to appoint his wife as his temporary guardian. Instead, the Court appointed Family Eldercare, a respected local organization that advocates for and assists adults and individuals with disabilities in our community, as his temporary legal guardian until a full hearing could take place to appoint a permanent guardian. The Court did so after the attorney ad litem reported that Mr. Hickson had identified his sister—who is a physician—rather than his wife as his preferred guardian. The appointment by the Court of Family Eldercare as Mr. Hickson’s guardian took place prior to Mr. Hickson becoming a patient in our hospital.

Once the Court appointed Family Eldercare as Mr. Hickson’s guardian, the hospital could not legally take direction from Mrs. Hickson. Therefore, we worked with Family Eldercare to develop the treatment plan that was best for Mr. Hickson and followed their directives regarding his care, as we were required to do by law.

Hospice care began, at the direction of the court-appointed guardian, when it was clinically indicated that the patient was not going to survive his illness. At that point, every effort was made to make the patient comfortable. Our team knew Michael Hickson, and we cared for him. His life was deeply valued, and we felt the loss of it.

...

[chia]

18. Thank you, this was helpful

[Maru Kitteh]

23. Thank you so much for posting that. People forget that medical personnel are people too

Monsters can be discovered in any profession, but we are as a whole, not heartless machines looking for excuses to "off" people. We are, quite rightly, the most heavily regulated, legally encumbered professions in the world. We are unfortunately accustomed to being villainized by those who have suffered a loss because we are easy targets, especially when those who have lost and suffer so deeply don't have a good understanding of what has happened. We are not surprised when this happens, it is a predictable job hazard, but it still can be quite hurtful.

[ananda]

19. This is very sad, of course, but nobody did anything wrong..

.. as far as I can tell.

[UpInArms]

20. Another tragedy

This is a heartbreaking story ..

[scipan]

24. Op says they withheld water

An IV line delivering saline solution has nothing to do with a feeding tube. You can live without food much longer than water. It sounds like he could have died of dehydration.

[LisaL]

25. He had a multiple organ failure and a pneumonia.