Posted on 01/26/2014 4:41:59 PM PST by BurningOak
A brain-dead Texas woman who was 22 weeks pregnant was removed from life support Sunday, and her body was expected to be turned over to her family, attorneys for her husband announced.
Marlise Muñoz, 33, had been on life support for about two months at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth after falling unconscious in her home in November with a possible blood clot in her lung. Although she was brain dead, and considered dead under Texas law, the hospital refused to take her off life support, citing a state law that prohibits hospitals from suspending "life-sustaining treatment" for patients who are pregnant. Marlise Muñoz was about 14 weeks pregnant when she fell ill on Nov. 26.
Her husband, Erick Muñoz, sued the hospital for "cruel and obscene mutilation" of a dead body. On Friday, a state judge ordered the hospital to take her off life support by 5 p.m. Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I do not believe anyone in here said anything about anyone feeling good about any of this situation. In fact I said that there is not good answer to this and it will not turn our well.
I will state very bluntly again that we have laws to use for guidelines in these situations not church teachings or individual faith and that is how it should be. Within the guidelines of existing laws this is the sole decision of the husband. Period.
The rest of us should step aside and know that it is a very difficult decision for him to make. This woman is dead, she died more than a month ago. Her body could not sustain life with out a machine breathing for her. There was no realistic or rational hope for her to recover or even maintain life on her own. Their baby was badly compromised from her death due to a prolonged lack of oxygen. Medical tests and scans found that the baby was badly deformed and there was a strong indication of brain damage as well.
The rest of us can sit and make big talk but we do not have the knowledge that the husband has of this situation, we do not have the responsibility to make this decision, and we do not have to live with the very real consequences of this decision. I hope no one ever has to make this decision ever again. So I'll shut up and quietly support the husband and her parents with heart felt compassion and sadness for their loss.
“Their baby was badly compromised from her death due to a prolonged lack of oxygen. Medical tests and scans found that the baby was badly deformed and there was a strong indication of brain damage as well.”
The fact that you think this is a justification for murdering the baby is EXACTLY the problem with our society.
There was zero harm to let the baby maintain his life support system for a couple more weeks.
And just who was going to pay for that continued life support? Not that I necessarily want to put a price tag on life, but considering the evidence about the viability, I don't think it's irrelevant to the discussion.
“And just who was going to pay for that continued life support?”
Set up a fund. Millions of us willing to adopt the child would donate to keeping him alive.
Double MURDER? Really? Question: Had she lived 50 years ago....would this have even been an issue? Medical technology and advances are great...and its awesome when they extend someone's life past the time they would have died if left to natural circumstances....
But to call something MURDER when IF extraordinary efforts had been withheld they would have died anyway....THAT's a BIG stretch. When your brain is dead....so are you. Turning a machine off in such an instance is not murder.
You need to keep some perspective and some context. This is the dilemma of life support. Didn't have to worry about this debate 100 years ago....1000 years ago....as they would have died. Period. If this is where we are headed....then we should be rounding up people who refuse vaccines on the grounds of attempted murder.
Wow. Gods provided incubator failed, malfunctioned, lost the ability to live and provide life for this baby. Why not blame the designer and manufacturer of her body? She died from natural causes her baby was badly damaged by her death and the babies live birth has been questioned since that time. Man and science did not cause the death of the mother or severely damage the child. That happened naturally and not by mankind's design or plan either.
I have not seen anything in print or heard a single person say they were glad or happy that this happened. That is a fantasy. I do not pretend to have all the facts in this tragedy and I'm very glad that I don't have to make this decision, but someone has to. Lastly I do not know what the plan was for this child but my gut tells me science and man have interfered enough in this already. There is good medicine that comforts and heals, and there is medicine that does nothing but prolong pain and suffering for the patient and family. In the end the judge, husband/father, her parents, and the hospital, all people with full knowledge of this case, all decided it was time to let go and stop interfering. I'll have to trust them and I believe they made the right, fully informed decision.
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