A Texas mother and her baby are the latest victims in an ongoing battle against a Texas law that allows medical facilities to tell the family of a patient that they have 10 days to find another medical center willing to treat the patient because their doctors think the case is hopeless. (LifeNews)
The exclusive story was reported by the Dallas Morning News:
Baby Daniel is nearly brain-dead. He cannot breathe without a ventilator. He cannot eat without a feeding tube.As with other cases involving the Texas Futile Care Law, the family is frantically looking for another medical facility that will care for 10-month-old Daniel.And if his mother doesn't find another hospital, the doctors at Children's Medical Center Dallas will disconnect him from the machines and he will die. The hospital's ethics board has ruled that it would be futile and inappropriate to keep Daniel alive – despite his mother's wishes to try.
The child's fate could be settled after a judge hears the case Friday.
"Something deep down inside is telling me not to unplug my 10-month-old," said Dixie Belcher, Daniel's mother. "I know it's going to take him quite a while to pull out of this, but I know he's my little fighter, and he's got to pull through. He's got to pull through."
So much for "choice" in "end-of-life" decisions.
i will be praying for this woman and her baby, as well as for the doctors and hospital administrators facing an exscrutiating decision. it is not my intent to slander anyone, or to maliciously insinuate, but the woman in the case has had her parental rights removed by the state as a result of allegations of abuse and neglect.
the hotline and intake workers for the child protective services are chronically overworked in this state; only the most egregious cases even get investigated, let alone have action taken (and removing the child from it's parent's custody is the last resort. so much for "choice" in "end of life" decisions? who was protecting this kid's right to life before the brain damage?
-bryan
-bryan stated:
"but the woman in the case has had her parental rights removed by the state as a result of allegations of abuse and neglect."
NO. She has been accused of neglect, not abuse. Please don't distort the bottom line here --- the state of TX wants to KILL an innocent child, a child who is considered a burden to the state.
Woe to us all, who become burdens in any circumstance.
i'm not distorting anything, i actually know how this works. you don't lose custody of your child in this state unless things are real bad; kids have to be in pretty horrible conditions before the state gets involved. if the baby dies, and if this woman's neglect/abuse of the child contributed to his current state, well, the state of texas isn't the one that killed him.
i suggest saving some of your anger towards Texas for all the executions it carries out. removing someone whose irreparably brain damaged (even a baby) from life-support is the tip of the iceberg in this state.
-bryan