133:. In 1973, Cowart sustained debilitating injuries from a propane gas explosion that resulted in the loss of his hands and eyes. He suffered significant hearing loss, and was so severely burned over most of his body that the only place where his skin remained undamaged was on the bottom of his feet. Prior to the accident, he was known to his family and friends as Don or Donnie; however, after the accident he changed his first name to Dax because it was a rather uncommon name, easier for him to write, and it helped to avoid the embarrassment he felt after responding to someone he thought was addressing him, only to discover they were addressing someone else with the same name.
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Cowart's injuries required amputation of both his hands, leaving only a fragment of thumb by which he could grasp small items such as eating utensils and a cup handle. Both eyes were removed and damage to his ears left his hearing impaired. What little undamaged skin remained on his body was used for
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I was burned so severely and in so much pain that I did not want to live even in the early moments following the explosion. A man who heard my shouts for help came running down the road, I asked him for a gun. He said, "Why?" I said, "Can't you see I am a dead man? I am going to die anyway. I need to
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The surrounding trees and vegetation caught fire as Cowart was showered with glass from the windshield. He made his way out of the car and ran, breaking through three walls of fire, rolling on the ground after each one to extinguish his burning clothes. After a mile and a half he collapsed. He later
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had endorsed a competent patient's right to discontinue prolonged life-saving treatments. He said the doctors thought that if they forced him to receive treatment, he would change his mind and want to live, and that it would be the best outcome for him in the long run. Cowart disagreed and continued
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After the accident, Cowart changed his first name to Dax to avoid confusion after he embarrassingly discovered that, on more than one occasion, he had mistakenly responded to the name Donald when another person was being addressed. The shorter name was also easier for him to write. He married
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Fearing he would be unable to regain his former level of activity, he refused treatment en route to the hospital. In the hospital, he has written, he was "forcibly treated for 14 months" despite asking to be allowed to die. He likened some of the treatments – such as bandage
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in 1986 with a law degree, and established his own legal practice as a personal injury attorney. He became notable for the ethical issues he raised over the medical community's efforts to save his life against his wishes. His case is often cited in discussions of
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Cowart's father, who had been outside the car at the time of the explosion, was found barely alive near the edge of the fire. Both men were taken to a hospital in
Kilgore, and from there another 140 miles (230 km), in the same ambulance, to
211:
baths – to feeling he was being "skinned alive". He was given limited painkillers because of a poor understanding of their risks, and was denied access to legal assistance by which he might have forced treatment to end.
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Cowart spoke on patient rights in the US and abroad. His life and his reflections on what has happened to him challenged medicine's understanding of itself as a moral practice. A documentary of his plight titled
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is heavier than air and thus collects in low areas such as the creek bed near which they had parked – and as they started the car the propane exploded.
173:. The accident occurred as they returned to their car after inspecting a tract of land they were considering for purchase. A nearby underground pipeline was leaking
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to hold the belief that it is wrong to force a person who is in full control of their faculties to receive treatment against their will; a violation of one's
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228:. He opened his own law practice, and later worked with trial attorney Robert Hilliard, founder of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLC., Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Cowart was a frequent teacher and speaker at the Trial
Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming. The college was founded by
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put myself out of this misery." In a very kind and compassionate caring way, he said, "I can't do that."
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368:"Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine, Fourth Edition"
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Cowart's pleas that he be allowed to die were not honored even though, that same year, the
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grafts to reshape his nostrils, lips, and eyelids. He attempted suicide several times.
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541:"ResearchChannel - Dax's Story: A Severely Burned Man's Thirty-Year Odyssey"
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pilot working with his father, a cattle rancher and real estate broker in
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Despite the debilitating effects of his injuries, Cowart graduated from
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Samantha
Berryessa, a California attorney, and they lived on a farm in
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Cowart died at the age of 71 on April 28, 2019, from complications of
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filmed in 1984. Cowart's case illustrates several issues of patient
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297:"Dax Cowart, Who Suffered for Patients' Rights, Dies at 71"
415:"Burn Victim Survived Hell, Still Insists On Right To Die"
1161:
Greenberg v. Miami
Children's Hospital Research Institute
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Burn Victim
Survived Hell, Still Insists On Right To Die
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was filmed in 1974, with a follow-up documentary titled
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121:(December 16, 1947 – April 28, 2019), better known as
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Self-Determination and
Selfhood in Recent Legal Cases
318:"A Happy Life Afterward Doesn't Make Up for Torture"
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366:Jonsen, Albert; Siegler, Mark; Winslade, William.
1099:Moore v. Regents of the University of California
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1014:Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital
453:, October 2, 2002. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
165:On July 25, 1973, Cowart was a 25-year-old
1110:Medical Experimentation on Black Americans
718:
704:
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1048:Albert Kligman's dermatology experiments
224:Cowart earned a law degree in 1986 from
1105:Surgery to try to improve mental health
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1223:American activists with disabilities
1218:American lawyers with disabilities
295:Slotnik, Daniel E. (15 May 2019).
177:gas – which unlike
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203:; Cowart's father died en route.
603:Practical reasoning in bioethics
881:Betancourt v. Trinitas Hospital
386:Steinbach, Alice (1998-04-26).
343:"Find A Lawyer - Dax S. Cowart"
1125:Radioactive iodine experiments
470:. Texas Super Lawyers Magazine
463:Carlyle, Erin (October 2011).
419:tribunedigital-orlandosentinel
1:
1193:20th-century American lawyers
1068:Guatemala syphilis experiment
95:Advocacy for patient autonomy
1213:People from Henderson, Texas
138:American Medical Association
1078:Human radiation experiments
692:(interview with Dax Cowart)
690:Dax Cowart - 40 Years Later
676:(interview with Dax Cowart)
625:Attorney Samantha Berryessa
370:. McGraw Hill Professional.
1239:
1135:Stanford prison experiment
1037:Abdullahi v. Pfizer, Inc.
888:Commonwealth v. Twitchell
745:Betty and George Coumbias
1155:Willowbrook State School
608:Indiana University Press
303:– via NYTimes.com.
1150:Tuskegee Syphilis Study
1093:Joseph Gilbert Hamilton
872:parent/patient/guardian
870:Medical opinion against
654:The Dallas Morning News
911:Archie Battersbee case
444:University of Virginia
192:
1130:Skid Row Cancer Study
966:Spiro Nikolouzos case
951:Joseph Maraachli case
520:Trial Lawyers College
388:"'Please let me die'"
272:Fallbrook, California
226:Texas Tech University
150:Texas Tech University
119:Donald Herbert Cowart
78:Texas Tech University
66:Fallbrook, California
33:Donald Herbert Cowart
1208:Euthanasia activists
1145:Plutonium injections
727:Medical ethics cases
647:Wicker, Christine. "
600:James F. Childress,
490:"Samantha Berryessa"
220:Later life and death
167:US Air Force Reserve
971:Aruna Shanbaug case
894:Mordechai Dov Brody
566:"Please Let Me Die"
112:video documentaries
1115:Milgram experiment
1058:Deep sleep therapy
1020:Christiane Völling
1001:Gillick competence
588:medhum.med.nyu.edu
570:medhum.med.nyu.edu
496:. October 25, 2018
449:2007-03-18 at the
347:State Bar of Texas
301:The New York Times
1198:American amputees
1170:
1169:
921:Tirhas Habtegiris
916:Charlie Gard case
850:Karen Ann Quinlan
770:Piergiorgio Welby
621:"Attorney Cowart"
249:Please Let Me Die
197:Parkland Hospital
129:. He was born in
116:
115:
106:Please Let Me Die
43:December 16, 1947
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996:Ashley Treatment
986:Informed consent
956:Jahi McMath case
906:Alfie Evans case
900:Lantz v. Coleman
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713:
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660:Orlando Sentinel
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543:. Archived from
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207:replacement and
131:Henderson, Texas
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1088:Jesse Gelsinger
1073:Henrietta Lacks
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961:Sarah Murnaghan
941:Ashya King case
931:Sun Hudson case
873:
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830:Vincent Lambert
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755:Giovanni Nuvoli
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663:. May 29, 1989.
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62:(aged 71)
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989:to treatment
976:David Vetter
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825:June Hartley
815:Baby Doe Law
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629:. Retrieved
627:. 2019-04-25
624:
615:
601:
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587:
584:"Dax's Case"
578:
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549:. Retrieved
545:the original
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525:February 15,
523:. Retrieved
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510:
500:February 15,
498:. Retrieved
494:Village News
493:
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474:February 15,
472:. Retrieved
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423:. Retrieved
421:. 1989-05-29
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395:. Retrieved
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350:. Retrieved
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326:. Retrieved
324:. 1983-06-26
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268:liver cancer
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252:
248:
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241:Gerry Spence
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143:civil rights
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101:Notable work
60:(2019-04-28)
1188:2019 deaths
1183:1947 births
805:Paul Brophy
786:Withholding
784:Euthanasia/
680:Peter Suber
209:chlorinated
179:natural gas
127:Vietnam War
1177:Categories
926:Rom Houben
810:Carol Carr
800:Tony Bland
750:Dax Cowart
631:2019-05-08
551:2007-03-12
425:2019-02-16
397:2019-02-16
352:2019-02-18
328:2019-02-18
278:References
253:Dax's Case
123:Dax Cowart
110:Dax's Case
84:Occupation
39:1947-12-16
23:Dax Cowart
1140:Study 329
788:treatment
735:Assisted
1029:Research
447:Archived
264:leukemia
257:autonomy
161:Accident
87:Attorney
737:suicide
657:at the
610:, p122.
185:wrote:
175:propane
936:Baby K
840:Baby M
686:, 1992
201:Dallas
68:, U.S.
49:, U.S.
516:"FAQ"
468:(PDF)
270:, in
527:2019
502:2019
476:2019
266:and
108:and
55:Died
29:Born
651:."
199:in
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