Posted on 01/20/2006 6:17:11 PM PST by Dubya
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- A severely beaten and comatose 11-year-old girl is now breathing on her own, officials said Thursday, two days after Massachusetts' highest court ruled the state had the authority to remove her from life support.
Denise Monteiro, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services, said doctors have weaned Haleigh Poutre off a ventilator in the past week.
"She can intake air, but she can't swallow on her own," Monteiro said.
Haleigh has been in the agency's custody since she was hospitalized four months ago with a badly damaged brain stem that authorities say resulted from abuse. Thinking that she was in an irreversible vegetative condition, the state had gone to court to seek permission to remove her from life support.
Haleigh's stepfather, Jason Strickland, is charged with beating the girl and could face a murder charge if she dies. He has fought to keep her on life support, but this week's high court ruling said he has no say in her medical care.
"This is exactly the point we were trying to make. What's the rush? Just give her a chance," attorney John Egan said. "Medical science is not that certain. We would hope the whole process will slow down, and everyone will step back and end the compulsion to end her life."
Officials first reported changes in Haleigh's condition on Wednesday, a day after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the agency had the authority to remove her ventilator and feeding tube.
Monteiro said the state now has no immediate plans to remove her feeding tube, and more medical tests will be performed Thursday. She said Haleigh had responded to some testing on Wednesday but would not specify what the tests or responses were.
When Haleigh was hospitalized four months ago, her doctors said she was in a permanent vegetative state and would die within a few days without the feeding tube.
Some patients with severe brain stem injuries may partially recover from a persistent vegetative state, but they rarely recover fully enough to communicate, feed themselves and live ordinary lives, Dr. Steve Williams, chief of rehabilitation medicine at Boston Medical Center, told The Boston Globe in its Thursday editions. But he said recovery is more likely with children than adults.
"There's more plasticity to their brain. There's potentially other areas of the brain that can take over," he said.
Haleigh's aunt and adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, also was charged with assault. But less than two weeks later, she was found dead alongside her grandmother in a possible murder-suicide.
Haleigh's biological mother, Allison Avrett, had supported removing the girl from life support. She said she met with officials and doctors Wednesday but would not comment on reports of her daughter's responses.
In this photo provided by her family, Haleigh Poutre is shown at age 11. Doctors were to perform more tests Thursday, on the severly beaten and comatose girl whose condition may have improved since the Massachusetts high court granted permission to the state to remove her from life support.
Associated Press File Photo
The girl's stepfather, Jason Strickland, asked the SJC to block the state from taking her off life support. If she dies, he could face a murder charge.
Ctsy: The Republican
The adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, who was also Haleigh's aunt, was also charged in the beating.
Ctsy: The Republican
Haleigh Poutre was hospitalized in September after her stepfather and adoptive mother allegedly beat her nearly to death with a baseball bat.
AP
Haleigh's biological mother Allison Avrett, said Tuesday: "I'm in complete shock at this point. My mind is running with things."
Ctsy: The Republican
Thank you. I did not think to pray for her.
She is still alive. All who will please pray for her.
She is still alive. All who will please pray for her.
As with Terri, only God knows what is best for this poor little girl.
If God takes her now, who could say it is anything less than merciful.
prayers for Haleigh. May she heal and find a family to cherish her.
Thank you, Lord, that she breathes on her own. Thank you that the doctors and nurses did not ignore her responses and simply let her starve. Guide them, Lord of life, so that they honor life and Haleigh's life, however harmed she is. In Jesus' name, amen.
If the girl is adequately cared for and dies anyway, that may be true. If she is starved to death, however, I would hardly regard God's failure to intercede as evidence of his agreement with the outcome.
That depends on whether or not we consider being hooked up to a machine that keeps us breathing, or a feeding tube down the throat simply "adequate care" or extraordinary and unnatural means of life support.
God has always been quite capable of interceding to heal people, and I'm sure His will is not altered or defined by every new invention man comes up with to sustain human life in the most incapacitated states.
These are not such simple clear cut issues as some pretent them to be.
One might define a respirator as "unnatural life support", but this little girl doesn't need one. She needs to be fed, and a feeding tube is the safest way to do that. Regardless of what you might think of this particular girl's situation, there are lots of people who use feeding tubes who would be very annoyed if you considered them to be "unnaturally kept alive" and would probably tell you that to your face.
Assuming of course they are not in a persistant long term vegetative state.
The question is where we draw the line. And again, the answer is not an easy one.
IANAD, but my understanding is that while many bodily systems can run for awhile on "autopilot" without needing any control feedback from the brain, things generally go out of kilter pretty quickly and severely when the brain is non-functional. To use a crude analogy, a factory full of automated equipment might not need constant human intervention to manufacture product beyond keeping supply hoppers filled and finished-product areas clear, but if left unattended for too long the equipment will drift out of spec and eventually start malfunctioning and even self-destruct.
BTW, this case has an interesting twist compared with Terri's: here, the person widely suspected of causing the incapacitated person's injuries has a vested interest in her recovery. Even if the girl were to recover sufficiently to testify against her assailants, such recovery would guarantee that they could at worst be charged with attempted murder. And if they could convince a jury that they were instrumental in assisting the girl's recovery, they could likely win some jury sympathy and get prosecuted of something even less.
Which is where this all get's really creepy.
He admits being the one who nearly killed her. Now he wants them to do anything to keep her alive.
Dear Lord....here our prayers....
I join in prayer for her!
My prayers going up for Haleigh Poutre and those who care for her. God's healing and protection for Haleigh ...God's comfort for her family and friends.
Blessings,
trussell
If you want on/off my prayer ping list, please let me know. All requests happily honored.
I lift her up in prayer - truly, children are remarkable. This is a case where the benefit of the doubt must be given...
God bless this helpless angel .. protect her from anymore inhumanity and suffering. It's truly a miracle that she started breathing on her own ;;;;; and yes, how can we not think of Terri. This is happening in my hometown.... so sickening that a grown adults could be so savage.
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