To join a Facebook page in support of the parents of Joseph Maraachli, click here.
LONDON, Ontario, February 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dying one-year-old Joseph Maraachli, whose parents are entangled in a legal battle after doctors refused to perform a simple procedure that would allow him to die at home, should have had that procedure “a long time ago,” a pioneer in the field of neonatology has told LifeSiteNews.com.
But the physician’s statements come on the same day that the hospital where Joseph is being kept has said it is willing to send him home, but with an important catch: they still refuse to perform the tracheostomy that allowed a sibling of Joseph’s who had a similar condition to live another six months at home. Instead they will simply return Joseph home, and then remove his ventilator, after which he will almost certainly die within a matter of minutes.
This solution is unacceptable to the family, Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition told LSN this afternoon. Schadenberg has been working closely with the hospital to have their wishes respected.
“They need to do a tracheostomy,” said Dr. Paul Byrne, an Ohio neonatologist with nearly five decades of experience and a former president of the Catholic Medical Association. “If the baby is stable otherwise, and has a tracheostomy, then the baby can be taken care of at home.”
Joseph Maraachli
In a “public information campaign” launched Sunday night, London Health Sciences Centre, where Joseph has been treated since October, defended their refusal to perform the tracheostomy. They called the procedure, which involves inserting a breathing tube through a tiny slit in the throat, “invasive,” and said it is “not a palliative procedure.”
“It is frequently indicated for patients who require a long term breathing machine,” they wrote. “This is not indicated for Baby Joseph because he has a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is fatal.”
This wording was repeated in today’s statement in which the hospital said Joseph could go home to die.
But Dr. Byrne told LifeSiteNews that “there’s no case” when a child is on a ventilator where the tracheostomy wouldn’t be indicated.
The hospital is now asking Ontario’s Office of the Public Guardian to intervene and allow them to take Joseph off his ventilator, after the parents have continued to refuse consent. That office has been unsuccessful in asking other family members to consent instead, and could intervene itself any day.
Dr. Byrne called the attempt to have the state remove Joseph’s ventilator “terrible, absolutely terrible,” and insisted that in his fifty years in neonatology he’s never removed a child’s ventilator. “I’ve never seen a time to turn off a ventilator,” he said. “If a baby has a disease process that’s so bad that they’re going to die, then they die on the ventilator anyway. So you don’t have to stop the ventilator.”
He also criticized the common phrase “life support,” saying, “Life is either there or it’s not there. You don’t have to hold up the life. What we do in medicine are actions ... that support the vital activity of respiration.”
“Assuming doctors can do something to support the vital activities, we ought to do them,” he explained. “And a tracheostomy ought to be done, and the baby ought to continue on the ventilator.”
Though doctors have said Joseph is in a “vegetative state,” Dr. Byrne called it a “made-up term” similar to the notion of “brain death,” which he said was invented “simply to get beating hearts for transplantation.”
Even Joseph’s doctor in London has admitted that the tracheostomy could prolong his life. “A tracheotomy would likely provide for a longer period of life, however, in our view would not result in improvement of well-being and could reduce quality of life,” Dr. Douglas Fraser told the Ontario Consent and Capacity Board in January.
Along with their public information campaign, the hospital announced Sunday that they are considering legal action against unnamed individuals who they say have alleged that doctors might “kill” Joseph or that his death would be a case of euthanasia.
Joseph suffers from a severe neurological disorder, but his specific condition remains undiagnosed. Doctors have given him no chance of recovery, so his parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, have asked them to perform a tracheostomy which would enable him to breathe on his own, so that they could take him home. Their daughter died from similar complications eight years ago, but in that case doctors performed a tracheostomy and they were able to take her home.
On February 17th, Ontario Superior Court Justice Helen Rady upheld a January verdict from the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario, which had supported the doctors’ move to take Joseph off life support against his parents’ wishes. The hospital had appeared set to remove Joseph’s life support last Monday, but that got delayed when the family hired expert lawyer Mark Handelman with the financial support of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
Justice Rady’s decision was based on doctors’ testimony that he is in a permanent vegetative state with no brain stem reflex. But the family says that footage released Thursday by LifeSiteNews belies the doctors’ claim. The videos, taken last weekend, show him flailing and reacting to tickling. They also show that his hands have been tied down - a measure the hospital took after Joseph removed the tube from his throat on at least two separate occasions.
The family has been trying to have Joseph transferred to a hospital in the U.S., where they believe he’ll get better care or at least a reassessment, and possibly the tracheostomy they need to bring him home.
In the last couple days, the case has drawn attention from major pro-life and anti-euthanasia groups in the U.S. who hope to find a hospital willing to take over Joseph’s care. Family members of euthanasia victim Terri Schiavo travelled to London last week to advocate for Joseph and Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of the U.S.-based Priests for Life, has pledged to pay for Joseph to be moved to a hospital in the U.S.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, warned in a Fox news interview that the court decision facilitates a system where doctors are authorized to force life and death decisions on patients. He has said he believes it is far worse than the “death panels” recently debated in the U.S. as part of the federal health care law.
“It’s the hospitals and the doctors once again usurping their power over the people,” he said. “That’s what’s happening. And they have significant power - they have the money and the courts behind them. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Over 12,000 people have rallied behind the parents through the Facebook page “Save baby Joseph”.
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To join a Facebook page in support of the parents of Joseph Maraachli, click here.
Contact Information:
Bonnie Adamson
President and CEO, London Health Sciences Centre
800 Commissioners Road East
London, Ontario Canada N6A 5W9
Phone: 519-685-8462
E-mail: bonnie.adamson@lhsc.on.ca
Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1
Fax: (416) 325-3745
E-mail: Use this form.
Tim Hudak, Opposition Leader
The Ontario PC Party
19 Duncan Street
Suite 401
Toronto, ON M5H 3H1
Phone: 416-861-0020
Toll-free: 1-800-903-6453
Fax: 416-861-9593
Email: tim.hudakco@pc.ola.org
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LONDON, Ontario, March 1, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The expert lawyer representing dying one-year-old Joseph Maraachli, whose hospital is seeking to remove his ventilator against his parents’ wishes, was removed from the case today.
Mark Handelman, who the family hired with the financial backing of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, had been negotiating with the hospital, and was successful in having the hospital delay removing the ventilator. It is unclear at this point what effect Handelman’s removal will have on Joseph’s cause. LifeSiteNews was unsuccessful in reaching Joseph’s parents as of press time.
At the same time, the Washington-based Christian Defense Coalition announced Tuesday that they and the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network are holding two prayer gatherings in London, Ontario this weekend for Joseph,
The prayer and public witness events will be on Saturday, March 5, from 12:00-2:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 6, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in front of the London Health Sciences Centre’s Children’s Hospital. They will be held on the corner of Wellington and Commissioners Rd.
There will also be a rally in support of Joseph’s family on Saturday from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, traveled to Canada last week with Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo. The two met and prayed with the family, pledged their support, and sought to connect them to legal assistance and to help to locate a hospital for Joseph in America.
“We are gathering for prayer and public witness as we stand in solidarity with Baby Joseph and his family,” said Rev. Mahoney. “We will not be silent when it comes to this tragic crushing of human rights. ... We must always speak out with passion and courage when we see the dignity of human life trampled.”
“We support the family as the ones who should be making the final decision on how to best deal with this beautiful child,” he added. “The courts and the hospital have completely disregarded the wishes of the family and are crushing their parental rights.”
Joseph suffers from a severe neurological disorder, but his specific condition remains undiagnosed. Doctors have given him no chance of recovery, so his parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, have asked them to perform a tracheostomy which would enable him to breathe on his own, so that they could take him home. Their daughter died from similar complications eight years ago, but in that case doctors performed a tracheostomy and they were able to take her home.
The hospital said Monday that they are willing to send Joseph home, but will not perform the tracheostomy. Instead, once he’s home, they would remove his ventilator, after which he will almost certainly die within a matter of minutes. It is unclear at this point how the family will respond to the offer.
Dr. Paul Byrne, a fifty-year veteran in the field of neonatology, told LifeSiteNews Monday that in his opinion Joseph should have had a tracheostomy “a long time ago.” He also insisted that he has never seen a need to remove a child’s ventilator, saying that “if a baby has a disease process that’s so bad that they’re going to die, then they die on the ventilator anyway.”
The hospital had appeared set to remove Joseph’s ventilator last Monday, but was delayed when Handelman made clear to the family that they could refuse. The hospital’s move came after a February 17th decision from Ontario Superior Court Justice Helen Rady upholding a January verdict from the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario, which had supported the doctors’ move to take Joseph off life support against his parents’ wishes.
Justice Rady’s decision was based on doctors’ testimony that he is in a permanent vegetative state with no brain stem reflex. But the family says that footage released Thursday by LifeSiteNews belies the doctors’ claim. The videos, taken just over a week ago, show him flailing and reacting to tickling. They also show that his hands have been tied down - a measure the hospital took after Joseph removed the tube from his throat on at least two separate occasions.
The hospital is now asking Ontario’s Office of the Public Guardian to intervene and allow them to take Joseph off his ventilator, after the parents have continued to refuse consent. That office has been unsuccessful in asking other family members to consent instead, and could intervene itself any day.
In the last week, the case has drawn attention from major pro-life and anti-euthanasia groups in the U.S. who hope to find a hospital willing to take over Joseph’s care. Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of the U.S.-based Priests for Life, has pledged to pay for Joseph to be moved to a hospital in the U.S.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has warned that the court decision facilitates a system where doctors are authorized to force life and death decisions on patients. He has said he believes it is far worse than the “death panels” recently debated in the U.S. as part of the federal health care law.
“It’s the hospitals and the doctors once again usurping their power over the people,” he said. “That’s what’s happening. And they have significant power - they have the money and the courts behind them. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Over 13,000 people have rallied behind the parents through the Facebook page “Save baby Joseph”.
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Joseph Maraachli with his father, Moe
March 3, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The case of baby Joseph started out fairly clear, but as time has passed many people have interpreted it as something it is not.
Joseph Maraachli was born without any problems. Then in May 2010, the Maraachli family brought Joseph to the Children’s Hospital in Detroit because he was unable to breath. After several weeks of treatment, Joseph went home with his family in good health.
In October 2010, Joseph experienced a similar problem with breathing. His parents were driving home from Toronto and stopped at the hospital in Ingersoll, Ontario. From there he was transferred to the Children’s Hospital in London, where he remains.
Who has the right to decide?
The baby Joseph case concerns the question of who has the right to decide what is in the best interests of baby Joseph.
The hospital decided to withdraw the ventilator from Joseph, which would result in death, likely occurring within a short period of time. Joseph would die while gasping for air.
The family decided that they wanted to bring Joseph home to die while in their care, in the same way that they cared for their first child who died of a similar condition more than 8 years ago. The family asked that a tracheotomy be done to allow Joseph to breath on his own, so they could bring him home.
The issue is, who has the right to decide? Does the hospital and doctor, or does the family have the right to decide on how to care for their terminally ill child?
Not about futile care
This case is different from most of the similar cases because it is not about a family requesting treatment that is futile, burdensome or extra-ordinary.
The family is not asking for a portable ventilator to be set up in their home, even though this would be a reasonable option. They are not asking for in-home nursing care to be provided. They did not ask for experimental treatment plans.
The family only asked to bring Joseph home; but to do so would require Joseph to be capable of breathing on his own. This is why they requested that a tracheotomy be done. A tracheotomy is not a difficult procedure; it is not futile, burdensome or extra-ordinary.
Not about euthanasia
Some people have suggested that to withdraw the ventilator from baby Joseph would constitute an act of euthanasia. This is not true.
Euthanasia is an action or omission that directly and intentionally causes the death of another person with the intention of relieving suffering. Euthanasia is a form of homicide.
If the ventilator is withdrawn from baby Joseph, he is likely to die, but he may survive. If he dies, his death would be caused by his medical condition and not because of a direct and intentional action or omission. Even if the intention is to cause his death, the reality is that his death is not direct because it is caused by his medical condition and therefore is not euthanasia.
The precedent set by the baby Joseph case affects everyone
If I have a massive stroke, I am not competent, I am unable to swallow effectively and I have not indicated in any way what I would want in such a circumstance and my wife would like an intervention done to allow me to be effectively fed, but the doctor says no, what will happen?
The precedents that have been set by the baby Joseph case and similar cases would force my wife to hire a high-priced lawyer to defend her right to provide reasonable care for me. She would face a well-paid lawyer who is financed by the hospital.
If the Consent and Capacity Board sided with the hospital she would be forced to appeal the decision to the Superior Court, which would cost an excessive amount of money, simply to defend her right to have basic care provided for me.
In the courts, legal precedents, like the baby Joseph case, would be used to convince the judge that the decision of the doctor and the hospital is correct.
We are all at risk, unless decisions like those made in the baby Joseph case are reversed, or unless the legislation in the Province of Ontario is not amended.
I continue to support the plight of baby Joseph and the Maraachli family and I continue to hope that the family and the hospital can achieve a mutual agreement. Maybe Joseph should be sent home and cared for on a portable ventilator?
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Pro-Life Legal Group Now Helping Parents of Baby Joseph
London, Ontario -- The American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-life legal group, is now helping the parents of Baby Joseph Maraachli, who is suffering from a terminal illness that will soon take his life.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/04/pro-life-legal-group-now-helping-parents-of-baby-joseph/
(Excerpt) Read more at lifenews.com ...
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Moe Maraachli with a photo of his son Joseph.
STATEN ISLAND, NY, March 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Priests for Life, the American Center for Law and Justice, the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network and other pro-life and pro-family organizations have been negotiating with hospitals across the United States for more than a week to have them agree to admit baby Joseph Maraachli. Baby Joseph is the one-year-old in a London Ontario hospital whose doctors are seeking to remove his ventilator against his parents’ wishes.
To join a Facebook page in support of the parents of Joseph Maraachli, click here.
Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has said that “for the most part, [the hospitals] have shown compassion but unfortunately, so far, not one has agreed to take Baby Joseph. The family is asking only to have a simple procedure performed to allow their son to breathe on his own.”
A hospital committee in Canada has declared that efforts on behalf of Baby Joseph are futile and a court decision has supported the hospital’s decision. The parents are asking for a second opinion from an American institution.
“Priests for Life has hired a jet that is standing by now to fly Baby Joseph and his parents anywhere in the U.S. at a moment’s notice,” said Fr. Pavone in a press release today. “We need one hospital with a sophisticated neo-natal unit and the courage to actually agree to take this child. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to explain to the public why it is that not one has committed to do this yet.
“I am urgently calling on any U.S. hospitals or administrators who are willing to help to contact my team at the following email address: jghorn.pc@mac.com,” he said.
“Life is in the balance. It’s time for the American spirit to rise to this occasion and say Let’s roll!”
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a constitutional law firm, announced yesterday it has been retained by the parents of Baby Joseph to explore options to get their son medical treatment in the United States.
“This has been a tragic case where the parents desire only to receive proper family-centered care and medical attention that will allow ‘Baby Joseph’ to live out his final days at home naturally with his family,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. “We are exploring all options with the parents and are representing their interests in the United States only. We’re working with the parents to determine the likelihood of bringing their son to the United States to receive the medical treatment he needs and deserves.”
Prayer and public witness events in support of Baby Joseph will be on Saturday, March 5, from 12:00-2:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 6, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in front of the London Health Sciences Centre’s Children’s Hospital. They will be held on the corner of Wellington and Commissioners Rd.
Over 13,000 people have rallied behind the parents through the Facebook page “Save baby Joseph.”
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The parents of a terminally ill Windsor, Ont., baby are being represented by a prominent U.S. lawyer who has ties to Sarah Palin.
CeCe Heil is connected to a Washington law firm, which has fought for right-wing Christian causes throughout the United States.
Heil said she hopes to find a hospital in the U.S. that will agree to care for Joseph Maraachli, who has been on life support for months at a hospital in London, Ont., due to a fatal neurological disease.
Doctors want to remove his breathing tube, and a judge has sided with them, but the family of the 13-month-old boy wants a tracheotomy performed so he can be taken home to die.
Palin supported Heil in her unsuccessful bid to represent the Republicans in the 5th Congressional District Congress in Tennessee in August 2010. The former Alaska governor and candidate for vice-president described the Nashville attorney, who has sought to become a member of Congress, as a "tough mama grizzly."
The Canadian lawyer who had been representing the family announced earlier in the week that he was no longer doing so. No explanation was offered, but there was speculation it had something to do with the decision on whether to appeal a Feb. 17 decision by a London judge that paved the way for Baby Joseph to be removed from life support.
The Maraachli family has received support from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, a Canadian group, and from a number of U.S. pro-life groups.
Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, told the website LifeNews.com that his organization is prepared to transport Baby Joseph and his family to a U.S. hospital if the American Center for Law and Justice can find one that will take the little boy and do the tracheotomy procedure his parents want.
“Priests for Life and other pro-life and pro-family organizations have been negotiating with hospitals across the United States for more than a week to have them agree to admit Baby Joseph,” he told LifeNews.com.
Also offering his support this weekend will be Bobby Schindler, who is flying to London from Florida. His sister, Terri Schiavo, was at the centre of a much-publicized, end-of-life battle in the U.S. five years ago.
“We’ll be joining the good people of Canada, and just doing what we can to show support for this family and let them know we’re behind them, and we’ll do what we can,” Schindler told CBC News.
He said Maraachlis should be allowed “to care for their baby properly and not be forced to have to end his life this way.”
The London Health Sciences Centre has said it is willing to pay to transfer Baby Joseph home on a breathing machine. Once home, the baby would be placed in the arms of his family before the machine is withdrawn. The family has refused that offer.
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Moe Maraachli says he is praying for a miracle, but not only for his dying son.
He said, after a small rally in a London hotel with about two dozen people, he wants the stone removed from Baby Joseph’s doctor’s chest and “put a heart for him.”
“Maybe he be human like us.”
Maraachli, 37, wants his son’s doctor to put in a tracheotomy and send his baby home to Windsor to die. The grieving dad hasn’t changed his sad tune since his son’s condition has worsened since he was admitted to hospital.
But more people keep joining in the chorus.
There were motional and strong words in the latest chapter in the case of the baby with the irreversible neurological disease who has been in the London Health Sciences pediatric critical care unit since October.
On Saturday, in the rain, there was a vigil outside the hospital with people attending from across North America, and particularly members of the U.S.-based Christian Defense Coalition and Terri Schaivo Life and Hope Network — named after the Florida woman who was at the centre of a high profile U.S. battle over the removal of her feeding tube. The groups entered the campaign to support the family’s desire to get Joseph home within days of the court decision.
Later in the afternoon, the group rallied at the Lamplighter Inn and Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition vowed they will continue in their search to find another hospital willing to take Baby Joseph on, after disappointment earlier this week when a Detroit hospital decided not to have Joseph transferred there.
They plan to be back on the corner of Wellington and Commissioners roads again Sunday and encouraged the vigils to continue each weekend.
“I’m sure if we ask God for a miracle, miracles (will) happen,” Maraachli told the group. In the past weeks since a Superior Court ruling not to allow an appeal of a decision by the Consent and Capacity board, the baby with the terminal diagnosis has become a lightning rod for public opinion about life decisions.
Baby Joseph is on a breathing machine and is fed through a tube. Doctors say his neurological condition has deteriorated so much he is in a “persistent vegetative state” and is blind and deaf, with no brain stem function.
The family wants Joseph to have a tracheotomy— an incision in the child’s wind pipe — so they can take the boy home and care for him by ventilating and removing secretions, like they did when their daughter Zina suffered the same condition and died eight years ago.
Doctors, including a world-renowned expert from the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, say the procedure isn’t an option. It’s too risky, causes a number of complications including pneumonia and wouldn’t improve Joseph’s well-being or his quality
of life.
The doctors want to remove the breathing tube in hospital and provide palliative care until the child’s death.
They have said consistently that if he did breathe on his own after the removal of the tube, he could go home.
When the doctor presented his case to the health ministry-appointed board, it was noted that there had been “many attempts” to have the baby breathe spontaneously on the ventilator, but within minutes, the ventilator reverts to a backup rate” because there hasn’t been any breathing.
At the rally, a basket was passed around the room, raising $4,000 for the family to help with their struggle. They also had t-shirts and CDs from a local performer on sale with all the money going to the family.
All of the support has been moving, Maraachli, 37, said.
The father came to Canada from Lebanon 11 years ago. “You are all my family,” he told the two dozen people at the hotel rally.
Maraachli said after the speeches that he doesn’t trust the doctors anymore and believes they are misleading other hospitals who might take Joseph on. He said they won’t let him have Joseph’s medical records and can’t understand why there is extra security in place.
“I think they mislead too much . No comment for the reason. I don’t know why,” he said.
“Joseph, he doing well. He’s not (getting) worse. He’s good,” he said. .
“I give him his bath. He’s stretching. He knows me when I come talk to him. His head is moving to me.”
The father said he believes his son can breathe on his own and “just has trouble with secretions.”
“They put him on machine They said the machine keep him alive. They’re wrong. They play God on earth,” he said.
He said his hope remains that they can take him home and “when the brain tell him to stop breathing, no more breathing, he die by God’s hand. That’s all I ask.”
