Father drops court appeal over his little girl's fate
Posted on 01/25/2006 11:03:56 PM PST by XavierXray
Oddmund Hjartåker has been fighting to prevent doctors at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen from taking his daughter off a life-support system. Four-year-old Kristina Hjartåker has been linked to a respirator since she was buried under mud and rocks in a landslide set off by heavy rain.
Her doctors, other hospital officials and a city court agreed last week that there was little point in continuing her treatment, and decided to take her off the respirator on Saturday.
That set off protests from her father, a flurry of media coverage and an appeals court review that effectively halted the unplugging of the respirator.
Bishop Ole Hagesæther of Bergen was then called in as mediator. He announced Sunday evening that Hjartåker and local health officials had agreed to continue to discuss Kristina's case outside of the courtroom.
"They have had an open-hearted meeting and it's important for them all to take care of Kristina's interests in the best possible way," Hagesæther said.
Hagesæther wouldn't elaborate on the discussions, or what prompted Hjartåker to drop his court case, and added that neither side wanted to answer more questions on the issue.
Kristina Hjartåker, age four, has been in a coma for months and can't breathe without a respirator. Her father is fighting to keep her alive.
Doctors at Haukeland University Hospital continued trying to convince Oddmund Hjartåker on Friday that there was no point trying to keep his daughter Kristina alive. She was badly injured in a landslide in September and has been unconscious ever since.
Doctors claim she is now both deaf and blind. She can't breathe without the respirator.
"We believe it's meaningless to keep the girl artificially alive," Stener Kvinsland, director at Haukeland University Hospital, told Aftenposten.no. "We've come to this conclusion after an extremely comprehensive evaluation over a long time."
State health authorities and a city court in Bergen came to the same conclusion, but Kristina's father remains unconvinced. He told TV2 that his daughter isn't brain dead, and has opened her eyes.
Another doctor and professor at St Olav's Hospital in Trondheim, Dag Bratlid, says that taking Kristina off the respirator would violate the law. "Health personnel have a duty to work with the family when it comes to treatment," Bratlid said.
There's also precedence within Norwegian health care to go along with the family's wishes, he said. A study he conducted of 178 deaths of children showed that treatment was ended in the case of 175, with the consent of the children's parents.
In three of the cases, parents opposed treatment being stopped, and their wishes were respected.
Kristina's father's lawyer filed a court appeal of the Haukeland doctors' decision, which an appeals court in Bergen agreed to consider. Time was running out, after the doctors decided on Thursday to take Kristina off the respirator this Saturday, but that's been postponed pending the appeal court's ruling.
Prayer sent for the father and the child.
Prayers for this man and his little girl. Never forget that this is the brave new world that the dems wish to bring to you here in the USA. "It takes a village"...to determine what's best for your child.
Norwegian ping.
Pinged from Terri January Dailies
8mm
It's scary for me to think that I grew up two houses down from where they lived......
"We believe it's meaningless to keep the girl artificially alive..."
"meaningless", they say.
Interesting.
ping for later.
That's pretty bad. I hope she can survive without the respirator. The world is going to hell pretty damn fast : (
Among the questions I have are, Do you happen to know what arrangement the father and the hospital arrived at in these negotiations? (from story, "He lost a city court lawsuit over the issue, and was preparing an appeal when he and Kristina's doctors announced they were renegotiating the terms of Kristina's care."?)
and, from your related article
Another doctor and professor at St Olav's Hospital in Trondheim, Dag Bratlid, says that taking Kristina off the respirator would violate the law. "Health personnel have a duty to work with the family when it comes to treatment," Bratlid said.There's also precedence within Norwegian health care to go along with the family's wishes, he said. A study he conducted of 178 deaths of children showed that treatment was ended in the case of 175, with the consent of the children's parents.
In three of the cases, parents opposed treatment being stopped, and their wishes were respected."
How were was Kristina different from those other 3, I wonder.
Thank you for your posts.
It is happening here in the US, the "richest country in the world". Details vary from case to case. Some say it is the "right to die" (or, if is determined by next of kin, the "right to be killed"); others say we cannot possibly bear the cost of care.
Most recent: Ted Stith, a 73 yr old active farmer from Cincinnatus, NY, was on vacation with other relatives in Port Charlotte, FLORIDA.
He suffered a stroke, but from all accounts, was responding to stimuli, including squeezing a hand in response to a question. Yet -- as allowed by FL law as of 1998 -- he was denied food and water (in this case, at the request of his son, who immediately proceeded to sell off his father's belongings at his father's auction house!). He was put into a hospice, a good friend who flew down to FL was ultimately barred from seeing him, and he died last Mon/Tues.
This is indeed a sad state of affairs. It is today, it is here.
May God bless Kristina Isabel and her family. What a sad time for them and for us all.
Initial information about Ted Stith comes from articles at the North Country Gazette:
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/013006PlayingGod.html -- Port Charlotte Hospital Playing God With Stroke Victim
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/013106WantsToLive.html -- Ted Stith wants to live; son busy selling his possessions
Google also shows address on Ted Stith's auction house in Cincinnatus, NY -- the one where his son has been selling his possessions.
Condolences to Kristina's family and all who mourn her passing.
Absolutely heartbreaking.. good thing there is plenty of room in Hell for these death loving monsters. Don't mistake them for human, they are satan's minions, and they are all around us.
As I understand it, they managed to convince the father that she should be "allowed to die"....
The details of this case are now blurred out by the hospital and the father has (ofcourse) asked to be left to mourn....
After the cartoon incident most other news have been left a tiny spot of time so I can't really say what they concluded with.... except that they should remove her from life support.
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