John Peter Smith Hospital is part of the tax-supported JPS Health Network of the Tarrant County Hospital District. The hospital has an Emergency Department, Trauma Services Department, Urgent Care Center and is home to the county's only Psychiatric Emergency Center. Established in 1906, the hospital is named for John Peter Smith, a former mayor of Fort Worth. Smith is considered by many to be "the Father of Fort Worth." He was instrumental in changing the county seat to Fort Worth. Smith served six terms as mayor and donated many acres of land for public works projects such as cemeteries, parks, and the county hospital which bears his name. The hospital is the only Level I Trauma Center in Tarrant County. The facilities at 1500 Main Street on Fort Worth's Near Southside, include a Patient Care Pavilion – a five-story acute care facility - an outpatient care center and a dedicated facility for psychiatric services.
Marlise Munoz was 14 weeks pregnant when her husband found her unconscious in November 2013, possibly from a pulmonary embolism. She was subsequently declared brain dead after her arrival at JPS Hospital. Munoz had previously indicated to her husband that she would not like to be kept artificially alive if brain dead. The fetus had suffered from oxygen deprivation and was suspected to be non-viable. Fetus' lower extremities were deformed to the extent that the gender couldn't be determined. Fetus also had fluid building up inside the skull and possibly had a heart problem. A 2002 study estimated the cost for an ICU bed in an average U.S. hospital is $2,000 to $3,000 per day. When her husband asked that life support be removed JPS officials cited a state law requiring that a pregnant woman remain on life support - regardless of her end-of-life wishes - until the fetus is viable, usually at 24 to 26 weeks. Officials feared that if they turn off the machines, the Tarrant County District Attorney Joe Shannon Jr.'s office would charge them with murder of the fetus. The assistant district attorney insisted that the state had a compelling interest in protecting a fetus, pointing to a section of the Texas Penal Code that stated that a person may commit criminal homicide by causing the death of a fetus and a recently passed bill that banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on the theory that a fetus was capable of feeling pain at that stage. An attorney who had helped rewrite the Texas state law being used to keep her body on life support at John Peter Smith Hospital said that there was a problem with the application of the law to a patient that was no longer alive. The Texas law itself, passed in 1989 and amended in 1999, provides lawyers for each side with little guidance. The relevant section of the Texas Health and Safety Code is a single sentence, reading, “A person may not withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment under this subchapter from a pregnant patient.” Her husband Eric, with the support of her family, successfully sued the hospital for continuing treatment. On January 24, 2014 a state judge issued an order giving JPS three days "to pronounce Mrs. Munoz dead and remove the ventilator and all other 'life-sustaining' treatment from the body." On January 26 JPS issued the following statement: "The past eight weeks have been difficult for the Munoz family, the caregivers and the entire Tarrant County community, which found itself involved in a sad situation. JPS Health Network has followed what we believed were the demands of a state statute. From the onset, JPS has said its role was not to make nor contest law but to follow it. On Friday, a state district judge ordered the removal of life-sustaining treatment from Marlise Munoz. The hospital will follow the court order." At about the same time the statement was issued, Munoz's body was removed from life support and released to her husband.
