This is the story of 56-year-old Jose Cobos-Portillo, whose first name in Spanish literally means "God will increase." Through Jose’s near-tragedy, God certainly increased public awareness of how horrific the
Texas 10-Day Rule is.
Jose’s harrowing experience began in September 2020 when he left his home in Chihuahua, Mexico, and traveled to Texas on a work visa. There he contracted COVID-19, was hospitalized, and placed on a ventilator. Less than two months later, the hospital started the 10-day countdown to forcibly remove Jose’s ventilator.
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Jose’s family in Mexico felt overwhelmed and helpless as Jose faced denial of life-sustaining care in a foreign country. Jose’s brother, Arturo, a native Spanish speaker and Jose’s medical decision-maker, didn’t know what to do as he couldn’t even visit Jose in the hospital because Jose was in a COVID wing. Arturo’s sense of helplessness increased when, he stated,
“A doctor started to get arrogant with me, he told me that he wasn’t asking for my permission. He told me that he was going to go to a committee and that they were going to disconnect Jose… The doctor told me that Jose had run out of options and that he only had one week left. So, he was going to go to the committee, and we would have to disconnect him. One of them claimed that I accepted that they would disconnect him; we never wanted that. It was so difficult for us, we were here in Mexico, and he was alone in the US, hospitalized in Amarillo. There wasn’t anything that we could do and it was so difficult, the whole family was suffering with that uncertainty.”
Further complicating the situation, all notices of the ethics committee process were provided in English. Finding Spanish speakers to translate proved difficult. While the hospital arranged for the family to call in for the ethics committee meeting, the language barrier prevented a meaningful discussion.
Jose’s family reached out for help.
On a Wednesday, with the ventilator scheduled to be removed the following Sunday, the family reached out to Texas Right to Life and asked for help. With the assistance of a Texas Right to Life attorney and patient advocates, they successfully stopped the 10-day countdown with only three days to spare! Had Texas Right to Life not stepped in, Jose’s ventilator would have been removed and he would have been left to die.
Miranda Willborg, a paralegal with Texas Right to Life, recently told HALO about the happy outcome of this amazing story: “One of our former patient advocates, Katherine Pitcher, helped Jose's family last year when the hospital started the 10-Day countdown on him, and he is now recovering and thriving back at home!”
The 10-Day Rule must be abolished.
Earlier this year, HALO’s President, Julie Grimstad, was in Austin to testify in favor of bills that would have abolished the 10-Day Rule, Section 166.046 of the Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA). Sadly, neither bill passed.
Please join HALO in praying that Jose’s story will be one that helps compel the Texas Legislature to abolish the 10-Day Rule.
1 https://www.texasrighttolife.com/10-day-rule-patient-makes-full-recovery
For more information on Jose's powerful story, check out the below video produced by Texas Right to Life! 
