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.
Sorry to objectify the sweet little guy, I just couldn't be bothered to remember the gender. Didn't seem relevant to the issue at hand.
More prayers.
How much per diem does it cost to keep a terminally ill person alive...baby or senior?
Obviously the parent had insufficient medical coverage.
It's simple economics IMO.
May he rest in peace with the angels.
yes,
What was the problem the baby was suffering from?
Do you think the hospital would have kept the child alive if the mom was writing the checks and paying the full amount of the care?
I tend to think they would, but that is the cynic in me.
Thank you!
I read this and have kept up with this for several days.
I can't even think about it. Too upsetting to me! ;-/
"His mother didn't help her cause by claiming that the child didn't have an earthly father, that he was conceived by the Sun, thus his name."
Oh dear. I'm afraid she doesn't sound very competant. Poor baby.
If I am remembering this story correctly, this baby had a rare and always-fatal condition for which nothing at all could be done. From what I gathered on an earlier thread, he would have suffocated eventually even with the respirator.
This is completely unlike witholding food and water from a person who would otherwise not die naturally anytime soon.
The mother thinks the baby was the Sun.
His mother communicates with him telepathically? I have to consider that the little guy is better off where he is now than he would be here on earth.
That is an unfortunate thing, I'm sure all the bleeding hearts here would have been more than willing to dedicate their lives and resources to keep this baby alive.
I do not want write:{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Thank you
Pretty much tells you where DaoPian is coming from, doesn't it.
Piss off ahole. I lost a child to CF and the answer to your question is YES
You are a complete f'n moron.
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