Consumer/Patient Complaints about Physicians Texas law allows you to get information about your physician. The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners is required to create a public database of all physicians licensed in Texas. They gather data annually, including information about any disciplinary action against the physician in the prior 10 years, data on the final resolution taken by the board on medical malpractice claims (if they are otherwise open to the public), and inf

Dear Mr. Premack: My father has been in the nursing home for a few years, and I recently (as his agent under his medical power of attorney) authorized an out-of-hospital DNR for him. He has been through so much, and would not have any quality of life if he was resuscitated. What I’d like to know is whether this out of hospital DNR also applies if he is transferred into a hospital, or if there is something more I must do upon hospitalization? – T.F. The initials DNR stand for

Original Publication: San Antonio Express News, November 3, 1989 The idea that life should not be artificially sustained when there is no hope of normal life has become widely accepted in the last decade. Many people cringe at the thought of being hooked to life support machines and indefinitely sustained after their time has passed. A statutory “Directive to Physicians” helps you avoid the emotional and monetary cost of lingering death, but (contrary to popular belief) a “li