[8mmMauser]

Emilio Update

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Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A judge on Tuesday approved a request from the family of Emilio Gonzales requiring a hospital to continue treating the disabled boy. Officials at Brackenridge Children's Hospital had decided to remove him from life support under a law that gives families just 10 days to find another medial facility that will provide care.

Gonzales is plagued by Leigh's disease, an incurable disorder that causes the breakdown of the central nervous system. Without appropriate medical care, he could die within hours.

Children's Hospital agreed to care for the 17-month old boy until April 10 and would then remove life support and stop treating him.

But Travis County Probate Court Judge Guy Herman delayed that action and set up an April 19 hearing for both sides to argue their case in court.

Jerri Ward, an attorney for the Gonzales family, told the Associated Press she was "very relieved because we have more time" to try to save the baby's life..........................................

Judge Extends Treatment for Disabled Baby Emilio Gonzales Until Court Hearing

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[BykrBayb]

I hope Judge Herman is a reasonable man. They’re getting harder and harder to find in the legal profession.

[8mmMauser]

From Hot Air...

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JPod warned him this morning about tripping over hot buttons. Too late, alas.

During the high profile legal battle, the Florida state legislature approved a bill to allow then-Gov. Jeb Bush to prevent Terri’s former husband Michael from taking her life.

Congress also approved, and President Bush signed, a measure allowing federal courts to review the Schindler family’s lawsuit to prevent her euthanasia death…

Giuliani told reporters he supported those attempts to prevent the painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death that ultimately killed Terri.

“I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive,” he said at the campaign stop.

He’s pandering to social cons, although in fairness his position here isn’t necessarily inconsistent with being pro-choice. A case can be made that Terri Schiavo’s parents were more reliable proxies for her than her husband had come to be notwithstanding the statute that gave him authority over her, and therefore legislative action to override it and assert her autonomy-by-proxy was warranted. Of course, once you play that game you open things up for pro-lifers to argue the same thing for “fetal autonomy” or what have you, which is why Rudy is always quick to remind us that abortion is a constitutional right — not only semi-sacrosanct but also invulnerable to legislative override, and thus, he always seems to imply, not even worth arguing about.

This won’t win him any fans among federalists or libertarians, but they’re not his problem right now. So as panders go, it’s a pretty sweet one.

Good news: Rudy wades into the Terri Schiavo debate

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[T'wit]

Here is an information page on Leigh's Disease. I'd never heard of it; others may be in the same boat. I am astonished to learn that the main treatment is Vitamin B1! But Emilio's prognosis is obviously not good at all. I don't even see any clinical trials* that are recruiting patients with his diagnosis.

NINDS Leigh's Disease Information Page

*We should keep this tool at hand for future cases: ClinicalTrials.gov -- a search engine for matching patients to medical research.