Posted on 01/27/2014 8:10:12 AM PST by Morgana
A Texas hospital decided not to appeal a judge’s decision late Friday to allow a husband’s bid to remove his “brain dead” pregnant wife from life support, an action that would end the life of his own unborn child.
Following the decision, Marlise Muñoz, 33, was taken off machines at a Fort Worth hospital about 11:30 a.m. Sunday and her body was released to her husband, Erick Muñoz. The husband’s attorney released a statement saying the family “will now proceed with the somber task of laying Marlise Muñoz’s body to rest, and grieving over the great loss that has been suffered.” Erick Munoz’s statement made no mention of his unborn child, who has now died as a result of removing Marlise from life support.
marlisemunoz3Earlier Sunday, a statement from John Peter Smith Hospital indicated it would not appeal, despite pleas from pro-life advocates to save the life of the unborn baby, who was 22 weeks and 5 days old
“From the onset, JPS has said its role was not to make nor contest law but to follow it,” the statement read. “The hospital will follow the court order.”
Larry Thompson, a state’s attorney who argued on behalf of the hospital Friday, said the hospital, before the judge’s decision, was trying to protect the rights of the fetus as it believed Texas law instructed it to do. The hospital’s attorneys cited a section of the Texas Advance Directives Act that reads: “A person may not withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment under this subchapter from a pregnant patient.”
“There is a life involved, and the life is the unborn child,” Thompson told the judge.
On Sunday afternoon, about 40 people gathered near the hospital for a prayer vigil. Operation Rescue president Troy Newman, who coordinated the prayer vigil, told LifeNews he’s saddened by what’s transpired.
“We are grieved that the JPS hospital has removed life support from Marlise Munoz and her baby. As the term “life support” implies, Marlise’s body was alive and supporting a thriving pregnancy at the time support was withdrawn,” he said. “It is despicable that dehumanizing and deceptive language was used to refer to Marlise as a “corpse” and her baby’s condition as “incompatible with life” in order to elicit public support for putting them to death.”
Newman added: “A human being does not lose their God-given human beauty or dignity just because they are disabled or incapacitated. This case just goes to show how far we have slipped into the abyss of a Culture of Death and how intolerant we have become of those who are seen as “inconvenient.” We strongly believe that the order that led to the termination of life support is in complete contradiction to Texas law that was enacted to protect pre-born babies just like the Munoz child. The courts have failed this baby, the attorneys who should have defended Texas law have failed this baby, and the hospital has failed this baby. May this tragedy serve as a wake-up call to our society, lest others wrongly fall victim to this dehumanizing utilitarian view of life and death.”
Marlise Munoz collapsed in her home last November from an apparent blood clot in her lungs when she was 14 weeks pregnant with her second child. Her husband and other family members have asked the John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth to remove Marlise from life support after they were told she was “brain dead.” Ending life support would also end her unborn baby’s life.
Erick Munoz, who said a doctor has told him his wife is brain dead, had filed a lawsuit against JPS Health Network. The judge ordered the hospital to remove life support by 5 p.m. Monday.
According to AP, Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, through a spokesman, said the case was a “heartbreaking tragedy” and that “Texas strives to protect both families and human life, and we will continue to work toward that end.”
Texas Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat running for governor, sided with Erick Munoz’s decision to remove life support and kill is unborn baby, saying, any decision like this “should be made by Mrs. Munoz’s family, in consultation with her doctors.”
The designation of “brain death” is a controversial one and presents moral and ethical issues, especially when the life of a baby is involved. There are many cases where babies have survived after the mothers have experienced similar situations to that of Marlise Munoz. There is a very strong possibility that Marlise’s baby could survive, given a little more time.
“We feel great compassion for the family of Marlise Munoz and her pre-born baby. No one ever wants to be in their difficult and tragic situation,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Marlise wanted this baby, and as long as there is a chance that he or she can be saved, we support John Peter Smith Hospital in their bid to follow the law and protect this baby’s life.”
“The public has been given the erroneous impression that Marlise is a dead and decaying corpse. This assumption is completely false. Marlise’s heart continues to beat and she continues to nourish her pre-born baby. A rotting corpse cannot do that,” said Newman. “As for the baby, we have information that diagnostic tests have not been done on the baby to support allegations that there are developmental anomalies, but even if the baby does have health issues, that baby still does not deserve to be killed.”
Abortion groups like NARAL have coldly sided with Marlise’s husband in calling on the hospital to kill Marlise and her baby.
“Some people want to decide who lives and who dies based on their personal criteria. If that was allowed, none of our lives would be safe. We simply cannot murder sick or inconvenient people just because we don’t want the hassle of caring for them. That is a dangerous road that will only end up unjustly depriving vast numbers of people of their right to life, just as we have seen with the issue of abortion,” said Newman.
“... could not be
born alive this early in pregnancy.” If the unborn child was growing that child was alive and the highlighted sentence is a blatant manipulative lie.
I don’t care what lib Federal Judge says.
********************
You do understand that this is a Texas District Court and not a Federal Court
as you indicated. What do you know that makes this judge a liberal other than
you don’t like his current application of Texas State law?
I would like to have an autopsy done on both mother and child, but there may be no requirement under state law that the family be obligated to allow this. And my curiosity isn’t a sufficient reason for them to be required to allow it.
Operation Rescue is over-reaching here. There appears to be no medical doubt this poor woman was brain-dead. The law requires a mother be kept alive till the fetus is viable. It does not require that a corpse be kept functioning in a case like this.
To insist that a law means what you think it ought to mean rather than what it says is to a very considerable extent how we got into our present mess. Living Constitution and all that.
Bad things happen in the world, and laws simply cannot adequately address them all.
Someone yesterday said who appointed this judge and it was not Bush. Yes he’s a lib.
Jesus wept.
“To insist that a law means what you think it ought to mean ...” Are you trying to make a personal accusation, that I am trying to make a law read the way I want it to? If so, why try to divert this into a flame war? Agenda?
This is a district court of the State of Texas. The Judge was appointed by
Gov. Perry in 2010 to the judgeship and he ran for and was reelected in 2012.
So you have nothing other than this ruling to show his liberal bend.
“The husband says his wife didn’t want to be kept on life support.”
MAYBE, but what would she have said just before they pulled the plug? Would a mother want to continue to exist so that her baby might survive? I say her answer would be yes, I choose “LIFE” for my baby.
They had to act quickly because in a couple weeks the baby could be argued to be viable, thus (legally) their own person.
Who are these people that can murder little babies?
It makes me SICK! and outraged.
Terri was brain damaged, this woman was brain dead. In Terri’s case there was a clear financial motive for killing her.
Is there such a motive in this case? For better or worse when you get married you are giving your spouse the power to make decisions like this.
Call me old school but, I’d feel better if Bush put him in.
You actually think there was a “good” outcome from this? Dead mothers cannot support a pregnancy. There was no way this was going to end well. It’s a horribly sad case. But the time for hoping was over. The time for grief is upon them.
I’m pretty extreme in my anti-abortion views. I’m pro-life when there is any hope at all. But I’m not for trying to play God, pretending there is hope when there is none. Every life ends and sometimes it’s hard to accept, but there it is. Let them go to God.
Hell for that matter I’d feel even better if Ronald Reagan had put him in.
I’m not sure how the hospital can fight this. If they try to thwart the husband’s wishes, they lose in court, and probably in the court of public opinion. If they follow the law as interpreted by the court, they obviously lose in the court of public opinion.
How can they fight this and not damage themselves?
My reference was to the apparent position of Operation Rescue as described in the article.
I don’t know your position on the issue, and I don’t know you personally. My comments were strictly about individuals who might hold a particular position.
I used “you” in the comment in the somewhat grammatically incorrect but very common usage of “one.” As in, “if you believe” being equivalent to “if one believes.”
“Dead” mothers on life support give birth all the time. Yes good comes from it. It can and does happen.
“Boo-hoo-hoo. We’re so sad about the baby we killed.”
“Would the wife have agreed to be kept on life support long enough to allow her baby to survive? Was that scenario ever part of their discussions? Doubt it. “
I dunno, is it possible to keep the womans body alive for another 20 weeks on the machines? I’ve heard that the organs will shut down after a few days once the brain is no longer functioning.
I’d certainly say her husband has a better idea of what she wanted then anybody else except her mom & dad.
Has an autopsy been done on the mother and child.. or will there be one?
Yea that is just what abortionist say daily.
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