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Baby dies after judge allows hospital to remove breathing tube.
Houston Chronicle ^ | Mar. 16, 2005 | Leigh Hopper

Posted on 03/16/2005 6:12:01 AM PST by Crackingham

The baby wore a cute blue outfit with a teddy bear covering his bottom. The 17-pound, nearly 6-month-old boy wiggled with eyes open, his mother said, and smacked his lips. Then at 2 p.m. Tuesday, a medical staffer at Texas Children's Hospital gently removed the breathing tube that had kept Sun Hudson alive since his birth Sept. 25. Cradled by his mother, he took a few breaths, and died.

"I talked to him, I told him that I loved him. Inside of me, my son is still alive," Wanda Hudson told reporters afterward. "This hospital was considered a miracle hospital. When it came to my son, they gave up in six months. ... They made a terrible mistake."

Sun's death marks the first time a U.S. judge has allowed a hospital to discontinue an infant's life-sustaining care against a parent's wishes, according to bioethical experts. A similar case involving a 68-year-old man in a vegetative state at another Houston hospital is before a court now.

"It's sad this thing dragged on for so long. We all feel it's unfair, that a child doesn't have a chance to develop and thrive," said William Winslade, a bioethicist and lawyer who is a professor at the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Paraphrasing the late Catholic theologian and ethicist Richard McCormick, Winslade added, "This isn't murder. It's mercy, and it's appropriate to be merciful in that way. It's not killing, it's stopping pointless treatment."

The hospital's description of Sun — that he was motionless and sedated for comfort — has differed sharply from the mother's. Since February, the hospital has blocked the media from Hudson's invitation to see the baby, citing privacy concerns.

"I wanted y'all to see my son for yourself," Hudson told reporters. "So you could see he was actually moving around. He was conscious."

On Feb. 16, Harris County Probate Court Judge William C. McCulloch made the landmark decision to lift restrictions preventing Texas Children's from discontinuing care. However, an appeal by Hudson's attorney, Mario Caballero, and a procedural error on McCulloch's part prevented the hospital from acting for four weeks.

Texas law allows hospitals to discontinue life-sustaining care, even if a patient's family members disagree. A doctor's recommendation must be approved by a hospital's ethics committee, and the family must be given 10 days from written notice of the decision to try and locate another facility for the patient.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: deathcultivation; govwatch; judicialtyrrany; supremecourt
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To: Skooz

Just trying to clarify who you or anyone here is willing to assign the "right to life" to.


101 posted on 03/16/2005 7:24:45 AM PST by DaoPian
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To: DaoPian
Just trying to clarify who you or anyone here is willing to assign the "right to life" to.

Although I am vociferously pro-life, from what I understand of this case (not much), it seems that the removal of the life-sustaining equipment and allowing the baby to die was the only humane alternative.

That does NOT mean that the child was an non-human inanimate object.

102 posted on 03/16/2005 7:27:33 AM PST by Skooz (Overtaxed host organism for the parasitical State)
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To: dawn53

I would bet he had good insurance.


103 posted on 03/16/2005 7:27:57 AM PST by sgtbono2002
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To: RedBloodedAmerican

"well, it would help if I post on the right thread, wouldnt it?"

Lol


104 posted on 03/16/2005 7:28:11 AM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR)
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To: elli1; BibChr; nuconvert
This is from the link:

The mother of an infant with an often lethal skeletal disorder won another temporary restraining order late Wednesday in her fight to keep a hospital from removing the boy from life support.

I'm not a doctor or medical professional. But 'often' lethal doesn't seem worthy of removal from life support at just 6 mos. I teach a class as a volunteer. One of my students this year has a similar medical situation. I don't know if it's the same, but similar. She is now 8. One side of her body, including torso and ribs, has failed to grow, at least at the same rate as the other side. She has had numerous surgeries. And will need more. I don't know how similar these cases are, but... maybe the hospital has failed this young boy, his mother's flakiness aside.

105 posted on 03/16/2005 7:28:43 AM PST by fortunecookie
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To: tx_eggman
Piss off #%!#. I lost a child to CF and the answer to your question is YES

You are a complete !#%% moron.

looks like he hit pretty close to the mark judging by your anger. I didn't see any freepers even offer to start a collection for this child. But you're quick to spend another's money just like a typical communist.

106 posted on 03/16/2005 7:29:30 AM PST by rmmcdaniell
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To: usafsk
>>At the time we let her go to God, we were sure that humans had done all that could be done for her. It was time for God to heal her and take her into his kingdom. If you haven't faced this situation, I'd tread lightly.<<

Well said. I would only add that, even if you have not faced this situation, please tread lightly on hearts already full of pain.

Muleteam1

107 posted on 03/16/2005 7:29:47 AM PST by Muleteam1
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To: Crackingham

I need more details on the baby's actual medical condition. Was he microcephalic? Was he anacephalic? I think it was just as bad or worse to remove that parasitical head on that 'twin' which actually had brain activity.


108 posted on 03/16/2005 7:30:46 AM PST by Dudoight
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To: Howlin
If you use this case as a rallying cry, you're going to look ridiculous.

That is ok by me, like I said it is only a beginning precedent and we all know how that works.

Is. 3:4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

109 posted on 03/16/2005 7:31:02 AM PST by itsahoot (There are some things more painful than the truth, but I can't think of them.)
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To: Skooz
Social Security would not pay one dime to this child or his family.

Where is the separate SSI account?

110 posted on 03/16/2005 7:32:01 AM PST by Howlin (Free the Eason Jordan Tape!!!)
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To: Skooz

You know, this is a great topic because it covers all sorts of legal, ethical, medical, and moral ground. I consider myself "to the right" on most issues, but I still can't call myself "Pro-Life". That is where the death penalty or any justifiable killing becomes an issue. I mean, how "pro-life" are you?


111 posted on 03/16/2005 7:32:32 AM PST by DaoPian
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To: fortunecookie

Right, that "often" snagged m too. "Often" as in 82% of the time, or 99.9% of the time?

Dan


112 posted on 03/16/2005 7:32:36 AM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: nmh

>>>So now we play god and ration life away?

>>>SICK!

Like it or not, resources are limited. Each and every day people, doctors, HMOs, insurance companies and hospitals make decisions about rationing health care. The only other option is free and universal healthcare which doesn't seem to get a lot of support in this forum.


113 posted on 03/16/2005 7:33:31 AM PST by NC28203
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To: Howlin

SSI is administered by the Social Security Administration, but is not Social Security. They are two separate entities.


114 posted on 03/16/2005 7:33:42 AM PST by Skooz (Overtaxed host organism for the parasitical State)
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To: DaoPian
Can we leave Hitler out of this conversation?

Sure as long as we don't promote his policies. I have seen the films where mental patients were portrayed as subhuman, thereby justifying there death to pay for housing for the Super Race.

115 posted on 03/16/2005 7:34:42 AM PST by itsahoot (There are some things more painful than the truth, but I can't think of them.)
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To: Skooz

Baloney; the money all comes out of the same "account." SSI is what is killing Social Security.


116 posted on 03/16/2005 7:35:17 AM PST by Howlin (Free the Eason Jordan Tape!!!)
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To: Crackingham

Sometimes I wonder if any of these Posters realise how many machines it would take to keep everyone alive if we never pulled the plug. Decisions to remove life supports are made evry day many times a day. If we just kept plugging people in and keeping them alive when without a machine they would die we would need hundreds of veggie hospitals.

Sure its an ugly fact, but decisions have to be made .
I state here and now If I am brain dead ,in irreversible coma, have terminal cancer, or just a paraplegic, please pull my plug, Do not destroy my family with bills they cant pay and dont make them come to the hospital daily to watch me vegetate with no hope of ever seeing me as I was.


117 posted on 03/16/2005 7:36:49 AM PST by sgtbono2002
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To: Fan_Of_Ingraham

Christopher Reeve didn't have a terminal condition, he was simply paralyzed. This baby had NO chance for survival, and as someone else has mentioned, even with the respirator, he would have died as his body grew. Not the same situation as Reeve.


118 posted on 03/16/2005 7:36:58 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: fortunecookie

That's the reporter's phrase.
You'd have to know the prognosis from the treating drs on this specific case.


119 posted on 03/16/2005 7:37:06 AM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR)
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To: sgtbono2002

You're right, Medicare plus a great secondary Blue Cross Blue Shield policy.


120 posted on 03/16/2005 7:37:26 AM PST by dawn53
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