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WASHINGTON (BP)--A young, severely brain injured Delaware woman is at the center of a life-and-death court battle between her parents.
Regrettably, her potential demise by starvation and dehydration would not be an unusual occurrence in this country, a pro-life, bioethics specialist says.
Randy Richardson and Edith Towers are locked in a fight over the fate of their daughter, Lauren Richardson, 26, whom a judge has ruled is in a "persistent vegetative state" after an accidental heroin overdose, according to The Wilmington (Del.) News Journal. Lauren was pregnant when she suffered the brain injury in August 2006. She was placed on life support in order to save her baby, whom she gave birth to several months later.
After the birth, the parents began battling over Lauren's care. Towers says her daughter had expressed a desire not to live in such a condition, while Richardson refutes his former wife's claim, The News Journal reported. A judge granted guardianship to Towers in January, a ruling that could lead to removal of her feeding tube. Richardson, however, appealed the ruling, blocking any withdrawal of treatment for now.
The case is reminiscent of that of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who was described as being in a "persistent vegetative state" despite giving the appearance of responding to others and died in 2005. A court granted her husband's wishes that her feeding tube be removed over the opposition of her parents.
Such cases are all too common but rarely reported, said Wesley Smith, a lawyer for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide............................
LIFE DIGEST: Del. woman may be one of many who die by starvation
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