Healthcare professionals, like nurses and doctors, are trained to work with family members through difficult health decisions, and understanding what is happening at the bedside. Yet, sometimes this training is not enough. Extenuating circumstances, strong convictions, and slight incidents of miscommunication can lead to disastrous outcomes.
One Texan man, father to a stroke patient, was pushed to the edge of his sanity when he was told his son was brain dead. Shocked at the diagnosis and believing his son was still alive, he set in motion a plan to save him using extremely dangerous methods. In the end, the father engaged in an armed, three-hour standoff with hospital staff. Luckily, the man was able to prove his son was not brain dead and nobody was harmed. But this incident, no doubt, caused extensive trauma to hospital staff and brought criminal charges against the loving father. (1)
A Terminal Diagnosis
At only 27 years of age, George Pickering III was diagnosed as brain dead at Houston’s Tomball Regional Medical Center. Leading up this event, he had suffered a seizure, and a major stroke that left him bedridden. His mother and brother took the news in stride, and okayed the medical team to conduct a ‘terminal wean’ – where life support is slowly withdrawn. Pickering Jr was also added to an organ donation list.
Only one family member, father George Pickering II, refuted the team’s findings. Pickering Sr told KPRC news: ‘They were moving too fast. The hospital, the nurses, the doctors.” (1)
Desperate Measures
Pickering Sr decided, when his calls to have his son re-evaluated went unanswered, that he had to do something. He said, “I knew if I had three or four hours that night that I would know whether George was brain-dead.” Picking up his gun, Pickering Sr went into the hospital, and entered a three-hour standoff with staff and police. During the standoff, Pickering Sr was aggressive, intoxicated, threatened staff, and spread fear among the medical team.
Yet, Pickering Sr also found his son responsive to his voice, following commands to squeeze his hand multiple times during the standoff. He stood by his belief that his son was not ready to die, even though SWAT team members surrounded Pickering Jr’s hospital room.
Fortunately, Pickering Sr’s other son was able to get the gun from him, without any injuries, and the father peacefully surrendered to the authorities. Taken into custody, Pickering Sr was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The medical team, doing their professional diligence, also re-looked at Pickering Jr’s condition. As a result, life support was not withdrawn, and Jr was given a second chance to live.
Within a week of the standoff, the father went to jail, and the son woke up to begin recovering. Both very different turns in these two men’s life courses over a short period of time (1, 2)
Life After Prison
In December of 2015, Pickering Sr was officially released from jail and reunited with his recovering son. His charges had been reduced, for reasons unknown, and was able to obtain an early release. Reflecting on the standoff, both father and son have spoken about how they wouldn’t change a thing about that tense and scary day. Pickering Jr said: ‘There was a law broken, but it was broken for all the right reasons. I’m here now because of it. It was love, it was love.’ (1, 2)
The Perspective Of A Nurse
As an ICU Nurse, I know there are many complex factors at play in the survival and recovery of critically ill patients. Moment to moment, the status of a very sick patient can change – for worse or for better. This experience can be extremely overwhelming for family members, seeming like a never-ending rollercoaster of emotion.
However, it is my personal opinion that violence has no place within medical settings. Bringing a weapon or explosive device, especially, desecrates the safety of hospitals and places too many innocent people at risk. There are numerous ill patients and loved ones, actively healing and working, in every hospital at any one time. Do they deserve to have a gun waved at them? I believe no.
In the future, if you disagree with your or your loved ones’ medical team on any plan in their care, use words first. Speak with hospital leadership and medical administration if you feel your worries go unheard at the bedside, such as a manager or patient care advocate. Communicate in person and via written correspondence to share all of your concerns, ideally using professional and respectful language (have someone edit it if you’re unsure!). If these methods fail, pursue legal assistance. Medical law is complex and always changing, so using an expert can help you navigate how to best proceed next.
