Andrea Clark has Died: Family Issues Statement

The family of Andrea Clark has announced that she died peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones:

“Andrea passed away peacefully a little before 3pm today, with her family and her friends at her bedside. We love her so very much and we are going to miss her terribly. We hope that the battle that we fought for our sister will bring to light and bear witness to the horrible acts committed in the name of ethics in hospitals across the state of Texas.

The fact that we had to fight this battle is both frightening and a sad commentary on the so-called ‘ethics’ now being practiced in medical facilities in this state. The battle for life is a difficult one, in the best of situations, but when a family is put through what we had to go through at such a time, it is especially agonizing.

We wish so much that we could have spent more time at our sister’s side, when she was living and fighting for her life, rather than having to visit our attorney’s office, give interviews to radio and television stations to let the public know of the atrocity about to befall Andrea, and literally stand outside the hospital and beg them not to kill our sister. In attempting to deprive Andrea of the most basic of her human rights—life—St. Luke’s Hospital managed to deprive her family and her of that which is most dear to us all, when we are faced with the death of a loved one: a proper goodbye.

How, in the name of God, anyone can call putting someone to death when they are at their most helpless and begging for their lives ‘ethical,’ we cannot imagine.”

Some people might say that since Clark died, the initial decision to unilaterally refuse wanted life sustaining treatment by St. Luke’s made sense. But the opposite is true. The family’s statement is bitter. But imagine the depth of bitterness, anguish, and uncertainty that would have been generated had Clark died because of being forced off life support.

My sympathies to the family and gratitude for fighting for the intrinsic equal moral worth of Andrea Clark’s life.