Earlier this month, I shared the story of the fight to save the life of Gary E. Harvey. His wife, Sara, has been in a battle with the Chemung County Attorney over guardianship and an imminent threat to have her husband’s feeding tube removed.
There is some good news to report, although the fight is hardly over. From the Corning Leader:
Elmira, N.Y. – A comatose Chemung County man at the center of a legal battle over his medical condition will not have his feeding tube removed.
A request by the Chemung County Attorney’s Office to remove Gary Harvey’s total-parenteral-nutrition (TPN) tube was formally dismissed Monday.
The county Attorney’s Office filed the motion to remove the feeding tube in early June but informed state Supreme Court Judge Judith O’Shea late last month it was withdrawing the request, according to a letter from Assistant County Attorney Donald Thomson.
In early June, the St. Joseph’s Hospital Ethics Committee recommended the removal of Harvey’s feeding tube because it was no longer a viable source of nutrition and was causing fungal septicemia, according to an affidavit completed by Rita Gould, the supervisor of Adult Services for the Chemung County Department of Social Services.
Fungal septicemia is an infection that in Harvey was located where the feeding tube was inserted.
Later in June, however, the infection began responding to treatment, and the county withdrew its application to remove the feeding tube.
Harvey’s case is still far from over, said his wife, Sara Harvey, who called Monday “a big victory.”
Remaining open is the issue of a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order. According to Thomson’s letter, a DNR order has been issued in the case.
As the article indicates, this doesn’t end the struggle. Ultimately, Sara wants to have her husband home where he can be supported and cared for.
There’s more to the article – Sara invites people to leave comments on the article on the newspaper site. –Stephen Drake