Posted on 09/05/2014 9:32:40 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
A teenage mother is fighting a do-not-resuscitate order imposed over her objections on her brain-damaged daughter, saying she should be responsible for medical decisions. Child welfare officials who intervened after the baby was severely injured say life-saving measures in the event she stops breathing would only prolong her suffering.
The mother, Virginia Trask, originally agreed to the do-not-resuscitate order. At one point, the infant was removed from life support and placed in her arms to die, then opened her eyes and began breathing.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Maine and Christian Civic League of Maine are joining the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based conservative legal group, in supporting the 18-year-old mother's request to lift the judge-approved order.
"Everyone deserves a fighting chance to live," said Steve Aden, from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief. "All she's doing is fighting for her baby."
Maine's supreme court will hear arguments later this month.
The case is unusual. Art Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, said he'd never heard of a similar case in which a do-not-resuscitate order was imposed against a mother's wishes.
"It could set some precedent for setting parental rights in some pretty horrible circumstances," he said. "It could set some precedent with regards to medical authority."
Aleah Peaslee was 6 months old in December when she was shaken by her father while the youngster's mother was at work, prosecutors say. The girl, now in foster care, suffered profound injuries that have left her a spastic quadriplegic who cannot see or hear and who relies on a feeding tube for nutrition.
She will never advance beyond an "an early infantile level," cannot suck or swallow and exhibits a high-pitched "neurological cry" that she suggests she's in pain, the state said in a legal brief. Her brain injuries are so severe that she'll suffer a premature death, state attorneys said. Her foster mother observed, "She's just miserable."
The father, Kevin Peaslee, 22, is due to stand trial in October on charges of aggravated assault.
State child welfare officials believe the do-not-resuscitate order is appropriate, given the extent of the injuries to the girl, who stopped breathing and suffered from oxygen starvation after being violently shaken, according to court filings. If she stops breathing, life-saving procedures would only increase the severe pain she's already experiencing, state officials contend.
Trask believes the do-not-resuscitate order amounts to a wrongful termination of her parental rights. She is fighting to make medical decisions for her daughter.
Scott Hess, Trask's attorney, said the case involves "a very important legal issue for all parents."
"My client is very brave for standing up for her rights and those of her child," Hess said.
However, a state judge who gave child welfare officials authority to make medical decisions doesn't put as much stock in the judgment of either parent and noted that the mother has visited her daughter "only a handful of times." The judge found that "neither parent can be counted on to be physically or emotionally available to make the necessary informed decision when needed."
The judge said also noted a potential conflict of interest regarding the father, who is no longer involved in the decision-making. Charges against him could be upgraded to manslaughter or even murder if Aleah dies, and the mother previously expressed an interest with reuniting with him, court documents indicated.
Skeptics were wrong - ObamaCare really will save money. We’re going to stop treating those who don’t meet the standard set by liberals (unless they have inside connections, which this family doesn’t have).
Looks like the mother wants to save baby daddy from murder charges at the expense (who’s paying, I wonder) of maintaining a suffering infant she seldom sees.
I agreed to one for my father. When someone is suffering and there is no reasonable prospect to restore their quality of life, keeping them alive serves no moral or functional purpose. In extreme circumstances, a DNR order is the last thing one can do and I’m pro-life. But I don’t believe in preserving life at any cost.
“The father, Kevin Peaslee, 22, is due to stand trial in October on charges of aggravated assault. “
I want to know more here ...
Was this due to resistance to govt or hospital controls?
NEVERMIND, I have learned to read.
“I agreed to one for my father. “
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Good for you. I’m 81 and my kids and doctor are well aware of my DNR wishes.
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Allowing someone to suffer out of guilt is selfishness. Are you doing it for a loved one or doing it for yourself? Sometimes God calls our nearest and dearest home and life and death belongs to Him. I always defer to His judgment and trust He will do what is just and right.
And there ya have it. The State wants to kill the child and charge the father with murder.
The child will not have a quality of life. It would to all extents and purposes be a vegetable.
And is the mother really doing this for the baby or get her abusive husband out of potential murder charges?
Sounds like another Terri Schiavo horror in the making but im ME instead of FL.
Orwellian.
Were there no other relatives to whom responsibility for medical decisions could have been given - was the government the only other option?
The next questions is who gets to decide? The mother or the State?
Moral Absolutes Ping!
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Maine Gov. Paul LePage reversed state bureaucrats and vowed to defy a state Supreme Court court ruling if necessary to back a teen mom seeking to lift a "Do Not Resuscitate" order from her one-year-old baby, who was allegedly shaken into a coma but miraculously recovered.
~snip~
“This case is disturbing and is not reflective of my administration’s position that a parent who is the legal guardian of their child should have final say in medical decisions about life-sustaining treatment,” said LePage. “The existing law violates the sanctity of parental rights, and I cannot support it. Unless a parent is deemed unfit and parental rights are severed, the state should not override a parent’s right to make medical decisions for their own child.”
Given the story, I’m assuming the taxpayers are footing the bill.
Agreed, allow the person death with dignity.
Make sure that it is DNR/DNI (Do not intubate) My aunt had brain cancer, My cousin signed the DNR and one of the nurses approached me and told me that the DNR was not enough.
” My cousin signed the DNR and one of the nurses approached me and told me that the DNR was not enough. “
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Thanks for that info-———I’ll have to check out my paperwork.
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I'd have to be in mighty bad shape to think death by asphyxiation sounded good.
Good enough - RESUSCITATE!
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