Judge Orders Baby Kept on Life-Support (Texas)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC/AP

A judge Tuesday granted a family's request to keep their critically ill baby alive, ruling that the boy should not be removed from life-support equipment as the hospital had planned.

Probate Judge Guy Herman set a hearing for April 19 for both sides to present evidence in the case of 17-month-old Emilio Gonzales.

Children's Hospital of Austin has been caring for Emilio since December and says the effort is futile and the child is suffering without medical benefit. It invoked a state law that allows hospitals to end life-sustaining treatment in such cases with 10 days notice to the family.

Emilio's mother, Catarina Gonzales, 23, doesn't believe her only son is nonresponsive and says the boy smiles and turns his head toward voices.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3026860

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. too bad he wasn't a white woman in Florida

there would have been a lot more publicity about this a lot sooner.

Do they really know that much about the disease they think he has that has caused the brain to atrophy or whatever happened to it?

[SayWhatYo]

21. It's on the news here in texas quite a bit...

Can't say I've seen much about it on a national level. Sadly, I think you're right about the reason why it not being national news is because he isn't white.

Now to play jerkoff role. Another sad thing is that if he was a white woman then many here at DU would be calling for the plug to be pulled...


Anyways, this is a sad story and the child is going to die. To me it simply seems as if the family prolonging both the child's and their own suffering. Although, I can't say I wouldn't be doing the same thing they are doing if I was in their shoes.

[ck4829]

2. Where are the armies of protesters?

Oh yeah, baby is hispanic and his mother is probably poor, never mind.

[sasquatch]

11. That's only for white christian fundamentalist

[saigon68]

3. Maybe they can bring him a Happy Meal

To eat

[spotbird]

4. This is George W. Bush's law

Pro life is for the unborn or born white people.

We know what Bush is, but some of the prolife rank and file believe what they say. How in the world could they ever trust a man who advocated this position, and signed it into law?

Strange.

[DRoseDARs]

5. So this is a little bit like Terri Schiavo all over again? Swell. n/t

[0rganism]

15. self delete

[spotbird]

6. Wouldn't it be ironic

if Bush rushed back to Washington to "save this baby's life" when it was Bush's own law that permits the hospital to discontinue life support?

It would be if the media reported the irony.

[Felix Mala]

7. Quick, get a video to Bill Frist for his diagnosis!

[DRoseDARs]

9. That was my first thought when I saw the "no higher brain function" and "turns and smiles" bits. n/t

[Warpy]

8. I think that judge was being compassionate

to the mother because the child only has 6-18 months left to live. Leigh's is fatal in infants by their third birthday.

As for causing the baby pain, that's not at all likely. He may feel pain, but by now he's most likely unable to interpret as such because of the loss of higher brain functions.

This is the second time I've agreed with Texas courts. The first time was with the baby born with a congenital malformation of his rib cage that would have prevented his lungs from developing. That baby was suffering and there was no hope of anything but greater suffering. This one is not suffering and extra time with his mother is something medicine can provide.

Me, agreeing with Texas courts. I must be getting senile, losing my grip, going off the deep end...

More on Leighs without Medicalese: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh's_disease

[Kali]

10. link is wrong

[Warpy]

12. Works for me

Try again.

[Kali]

13. hmmm seems to have an extra forward slash there.

this is what I get from your link:

Leigh\'s disease
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Leigh\'s disease in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings.

* Start the Leigh\'s disease article or add a request for it.
* Search for "Leigh\'s disease" in existing articles.
* Look for "Leigh\'s disease" in Wiktionary, our sister dictionary project.
* Look for "Leigh\'s disease" in the Wikimedia Commons, our repository for free images, music, sound, and video.
* Look for other pages within Wikipedia that link to this title.

If a page was recently created here, it may not yet be visible because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes and try the purge function. If a page previously existed at this exact title, check the deletion log and see Why was my page deleted?.
##############################

And strangely when I go to the actual article and try to post the correct link something (here?) causes the slash to reappear - weird.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. Here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh's_disease

[Kali]

19. the slash is in your link too

it shows up between the h and the '

I found the actual article, and tried to post the correct link as well. But that foward slash showed up and trying to delet the apostrophe caused a similar error message to my post above only it had "Leighs" no article instead of "Leigh\'s" - the real article is "Leigh's"

When I click the link in your post I get the same thing as I posted above.

wierd.

[Warpy]

20. I got the article when I clicked on it

I do try my links after I copy and paste.

[Marrah_G]

22. I think that is really what it comes down to, can he feel pain.

I had a close relative who's child had Tay Sachs. This is probably the most horrendous diseas out there for a parent to face. He couldn't sit, walk, talk, see, hear etc. He could however have siezures that lasted hours, and he could moan in pain. He lasted 4 years that way. When he passed on it was sad, but it also was a relief, he finally wasn't in agony. (RIP Niko :( ) His parents had alot of family support, so I have to wonder, how much support does this mother have? Is she trying to deal with this alone? Does she have anyone to lean on emotionally?

I agree the judge was being compassionate. I hope they are right about not feeling any pain and I hope that if she doesn't already have support, they find her some.

[Lithos]

14. He's being a good judge

And doing his job. This is exactly what should happen, the various sides should be able to present their cases and present medical evidence accordingly. I've dealt with him before and found him an extremely competent and fair judge even when things didn't always go my way.

L-

[tammywammy]

16. Thanks for supplying your personal opinion of the judge

It's a sad story anyways, the infant is going to die eventually. I hope that all involved can come to a reasonable decision.

I'm going to keep my eyes open for stories on the actual hearing.

[rocktivity]

17. The Revenge of Baby Sun Hudson!

(link)

The boy is believed to have Leigh's Disease, a progressive illness difficult to diagnose.
He's BELIEVED to have a disease that is DIFFICULT to diagnose? THEN HOW DO THEY KNOW IT'S FUTILE???

He cannot breathe on his own, must have nutrition and water pumped into him, and can't swallow or make purposeful movements...(His)...higher order brain functions are...(allegedly) destroyed.
There PLENTY of people who are exercising their "right to life" under far worse circumstances--living in bubbles, with metal rods screwed into them, permanently hooked up to respirators, deaf, dumb and blind, comatose for YEARS! But nobody's trying to pull the plug on THEM! If he can last another six to eighteen months, let him and his family have them! As for the Texas government looking at changing the law, CUE THE VONAGE THEME!

:woohoo:
rocknation