The University Of Texas At Austin: What Starts Here Changes The World
The School of Nursing
 
 

2003 News

Dax Cowart, "The Patient's Right to Die"

Dax Cowart, a San Diego attorney and subject of the film, "Please Let Me Die," will deliver the annual University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing Sharpe Lecture Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the LBJ Auditorium.

The title of the lecture, which is free and open to the public, is "The Patient's Right to Die."

In the summer of 1973, Cowart was critically injured in a propane gas explosion that took his father's life and left him burned over 65 percent of his body. For more than a year, he underwent painful treatment, which in the end left him blind, permanently disfigured and severely maimed. Despite the blindness and disfigurement, Cowart went on to become a lawyer and a public speaker on issues of medical ethics.

During his hospitalization, Cowart made numerous pleas for doctors to halt excruciatingly painful treatments and let him die. Medical technology saved his life but left him blind and severely disfigured with all ten fingers amputated and permanent hearing loss.

The George and Diana Sharpe Perinatal Lectureship was established in the School of Nursing in 1985 for the furthering of educational efforts in maternal-child health. The lectureship was endowed by George L. Sharpe, MD and his wife, Diana Sharpe, RN, and an anonymous donor.

This presentation is also sponsored by the University Bioethics Forum, a student organization focusing on bioethics.