$24 million (in Medicaid funds) spent on Fort Worth toddler’s life support; hospital says Texas may intervene

By Kaley Johnson @ Ft. Worth Star-Telegram via Yahoo News, April 29, 2021

Texas has spent $24 million in Medicaid funds to help keep a toddler alive at Cook Children’s Medical Center, the Fort Worth hospital said in an appeal filed April 16 in the ongoing court case surrounding Tinslee Lewis.

Two-year-old Tinslee has been at Cook Children’s for most of her life. Born with a rare heart condition, Tinslee has been kept alive with medical care and “extreme efforts,” the hospital said in the appeal, in which it asked the 48th District Court of Fort Worth to quickly schedule a trial date to decide whether life support care should be removed from Tinslee.

“Although this case has never been about money — and Cook Children’s has never considered finances when making an end-of-life decision,” the appeal says, “the State of Texas (through its manager of a Medicaid care program) is now threatening to interject the issue into this dispute.”

Tinslee’s mother, joined by family members and activist groups, has argued for two years that her daughter deserves to live and she alone has the right to decide if or when medical care should end. Trinity Lewis says there is a possibility that her daughter will get better and the hospital should not be able to decide her fate.

Tinslee breathes with the assistance of a ventilator and is sedated but conscious, Lewis said at a press conference in January 2020 and responds to touch and stimulation as any baby would. Lewis previously described her daughter’s “sassy” personality and said she likes having her nails painted.

But the hospital says that Tinslee cannot feel anything except pain. In multiple court proceedings, doctors testified that Tinslee has no chance of recovery and each day is tortuous for her.

“This child should not be forced to endure this fate for months on end while this matter continues its creep through the legal system,” the appeal filed April 16 said [....]