The State of Texas Futile Care Law has made it possible to decree he die today. Important to note, this story as I show here in excerpt is being carried extensively in the news today.
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AUSTIN, Texas - As 17-month-old Emilio Gonzales lies in a hospital, hooked up to tubes to help him breathe and eat, his mother holds him close and cherishes every movement.
Catarina Gonzales knows her baby is terminally ill and that one day she'll have to let go. But it's not yet time, she and her attorneys contend in their legal clash with hospital officials who say it's best to stop Emilio's life-sustaining treatment.
A Texas law lets the hospital make that life-or-death call. The latest legal dispute over the law _ Emilio's case _ goes to court again Tuesday, the day his life support is set to end.
"The family has made a unified decision" to keep Emilio living through artificial means, said Joshua Carden, an attorney for the family. "The hospital is making quality of life value judgments. That's a huge source of concern."Texas is one of the few states with a timetable allowing hospitals to decide when to end life-sustaining treatment, according to studies cited by activist groups. Other states allow hospitals to cut off treatment but do not specify a time frame.
Emilio's situation differs from the case of Terri Schiavo in Florida, who was in a persistent vegetative state and at the center of a legal dispute within her family over whether to remove her feeding tube. Schiavo died after her tube was removed in 2005.
In Emilio's case, the family is united in wanting to keep the boy alive.
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If the hospital is allowed to go forward, the life support equipment would likely be turned off during the day Wednesday when the family can be present and have the aid of social workers and chaplains, he said.
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Carden argues that Emilio's death by asphyxiation would be painful. He said the law prevents hospital workers from even giving the boy the drugs death row inmates receive to help them as they are executed by lethal injection.
"It's not like he'll just drift quietly off," he said.
Baby's Life Hangs on Texas Law
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