By: Jacquelyn Smith
But wait, there is more… collaborating with Texas Alliance for Life, we visited the bill author, Senator Kelly Hancock, and suggested, and the author accepted, life-affirming language that transformed and clarified the meaning of perinatal palliative care.
Fatal language unfairly steals hope from every diagnosis experience, and its effect is pervasive. The original bill text spoke only of the diagnosis of life-threatening disabilities, and the resources offered were focused on the possible death of the child. That perspective sets up the expectation that the baby will die and assumes no hope. It speaks the language of hospice care instead of true palliative care. While some conditions are fatal and hospice is a beautiful and much-needed form of care, it is wrong to assume that every diagnosis fits that narrow definition.