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Posted on 03/01/2006 7:03:01 PM PST by KSApplePie_two
Family Fights To Take Toddler Home Chris Frank
Life Or Death Battle
Feb. 28-A life or death decision could be hanging in the balance for a child.
Little Brett Shively Junior was rushed to the hospital after a terrible accident where he nearly drowned in a bathtub.
Now his family is fighting to bring the little boy home.
A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in District Court to decide whether or not a Wichita hospital can remove the ventilator keeping the two year old boy alive.
Brett's family says, "We just believe that we're the best people to decide his care."
His family is pitted against Wesley Medical Center over what's best for his care.
The boy, who just turned two, hasn't awakened from a coma since a near drowning accident more than three weeks ago.
Shively Family Attorney Dana Milby says, "We have a family who's in complete agreement on how to best care for this child, and we have a hospital fighting to enforce it's own opinion on what it thinks is the best thing for this child."
A temporary restraining order keeps Wesley from pulling the plug on the boy's life supporting ventilator.
A judge will decide if that order should continue.
The Shively's attorney says "This is despite the fact that this is blatantly against the parents wishes. And that the parents have a doctor who has agreed to provide followup care. They have a home health agency in place ready to provide care for Brett Jr. at home. "
They say there's no reason the boy can't go home and be cared for.
Brett Jr.'s Grandmother Glenda Shively says, "They have predetermined that he can not recover even though we have been sent documented cases of people that have had the same diagnosis and have months down the road recovered. And that's why we're asking them to allow him to go home for us to care for him until that has time to take place."
She says the hospital is assisting Brett's life by providing oxygen and nutrition and says his organs are functioning and undamaged.
But they say Wesley wants to declare Brett Junior brain dead and remove life support.
Wesley Medical Center issued a statement saying, ""We understand this tragic accident has left the Shively family distraught. We're sorry they have chosen to take this case to a hearing. But we're sympathetic to their needs during this very difficult time."
The judge could rule at Wednesday's hearing.
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I will be praying for them. What a thing to have to face.
My FIL has a ventilator at home, that he uses when he sleeps. He has another type of oxygen tank that he uses periodically when he's awake. The one he uses when he's sleeping actually forces his lungs to function. When he uses the other tank, he has to be breathing on his own.
There's something missing from this story then. It doesn't make sense. Unless it's an insurance issue. Which would be horrible. I just can't see how the hospital can be the final decision maker in something like this. Hey...we got through an interaction without fighting, yay!!!!
I wonder how long we can keep it up.
I also wonder if the hospital believes (rightly or wrongly) that he's literally dead, and his family believes (rightly or wrongly) that he's alive. I don't see how his organs could function if he's dead. Maybe the hospital has a different definition of death than the rest of us have. Maybe they believe that if certain area(s) of the brain aren't functioning, even though other area(s) are functioning, the patient is dead. If, in their opinion, he's dead, they would consider it abusive to keep his body functioning.
And they hospital probably want to harvest his organs too, since apparently they're in good shape. This kid drowned in the bathtub? There's alot of guilt going on in this family too, I would imagine. Just a very sad story.
The organs might be a motivating factor, but it's hard to say at this point. I'm guessing that the hospital has a eugenics view of life and death, and they firmly believe anyone as severely brain damaged as this is actually dead, or better off dead.
i dont understand why a hospital wants to take
a patient off a ventilator but wont allow that
patient to go home to be cared for by family.
###
You can bet they want his organs for transplant.
"But we're going to do everything in our power to kill your kid anyway. Then we will continue to be sympathetic."
Some days I just want to slap the crap out of people...
L
Well, it's only been three weeks. The article states that the family has in home health care set up, and it is certainly possible to care for someone on a ventilator at home. He would just have to come home by ambulance.
I say give the baby some time befor removing the ventilator. Imo, three weeks is too soon.
This is something that I didn't think about. Well now I'm thinking about whose life is worth more? Yes, if organs are available, it is a blessing to give someone a chance at life. However, how do you choose whose life is worth more in a situation like this?
Brett's parents need real counseling at this point. The courts should keep their noses out of it. Brett should be given a chance to regain his ability to breathe on his own. His parents should realize that it possibly won't happen. This is where solid emotional support and counseling comes in. The courts should not be involved, and I don't know why they are, unless the hospital wants to harvest the child's organs, and the parents won't allow it.
It is not permitted to take the organs without the family's consent. A desire to collect the organs cannot be a motive for the hospital - it's pretty obvious there's no way this familly is giving permission.
Mrs VS
I've assumed that it is not permitted to take organs without the family's consent. That was then, and this is now. The courts are involved. Families no longer have rights under the current system.
You can't take organs without the family's consent. This hasn't changed.
If the baby has a strong heart, did you think about harvesting. Baby hearts are hard to come by.
The only thing to do is to check out the hospital and see what kind of organ harvesting program or system they have set up - do they link to a larger network? I think the hospital's after the little boy's heart.
Have you read about corpses being violated in mortuaries? The thieves are after bones. Do a search here, articles have been posted. Patients have gotten deathly ill from these products.
Not only is this illegal, and of course disgusting, it is also very lucrative. Now can you imagine the amount of money that relatively perfect organs can fetch?
Now, my concern is why the hospital took the parents to court to force disconnection of the ventilator, AND the feeding tubes, IV's. If the parents have a plan in place, why should the hospital care whether the patient is moved from their facility???? This is why some have mentioned organ harvesting. Can you come up with another reason why a medical facility would go to court to force a 2 yr old to die?
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