Baby Joseph’s lawyer dropped from case: prayer vigils planned

LifeSiteNews ^ | 3/1/11 | Patrick B. Craine

[wagglebee]

To join a Facebook page in support of the parents of Joseph Maraachli, click here.

LONDON, Ontario, March 1, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The expert lawyer representing dying one-year-old Joseph Maraachli, whose hospital is seeking to remove his ventilator against his parents’ wishes, was removed from the case today.

Mark Handelman, who the family hired with the financial backing of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, had been negotiating with the hospital, and was successful in having the hospital delay removing the ventilator.  It is unclear at this point what effect Handelman’s removal will have on Joseph’s cause.  LifeSiteNews was unsuccessful in reaching Joseph’s parents as of press time.

Joseph Maraachli

At the same time, the Washington-based Christian Defense Coalition announced Tuesday that they and the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network are holding two prayer gatherings in London, Ontario this weekend for Joseph,

The prayer and public witness events will be on Saturday, March 5, from 12:00-2:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 6, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in front of the London Health Sciences Centre’s Children’s Hospital.  They will be held on the corner of Wellington and Commissioners Rd.

There will also be a rally in support of Joseph’s family on Saturday from 4:00-6:00 p.m.  Location to be announced.

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, traveled to Canada last week with Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo.  The two met and prayed with the family, pledged their support, and sought to connect them to legal assistance and to help to locate a hospital for Joseph in America.

“We are gathering for prayer and public witness as we stand in solidarity with Baby Joseph and his family,” said Rev. Mahoney.  “We will not be silent when it comes to this tragic crushing of human rights. ... We must always speak out with passion and courage when we see the dignity of human life trampled.”

“We support the family as the ones who should be making the final decision on how to best deal with this beautiful child,” he added.  “The courts and the hospital have completely disregarded the wishes of the family and are crushing their parental rights.”

Joseph suffers from a severe neurological disorder, but his specific condition remains undiagnosed.  Doctors have given him no chance of recovery, so his parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, have asked them to perform a tracheostomy which would enable him to breathe on his own, so that they could take him home.  Their daughter died from similar complications eight years ago, but in that case doctors performed a tracheostomy and they were able to take her home.

The hospital said Monday that they are willing to send Joseph home, but will not perform the tracheostomy. Instead, once he’s home, they would remove his ventilator, after which he will almost certainly die within a matter of minutes.  It is unclear at this point how the family will respond to the offer.

Dr. Paul Byrne, a fifty-year veteran in the field of neonatology, told LifeSiteNews Monday that in his opinion Joseph should have had a tracheostomy “a long time ago.”  He also insisted that he has never seen a need to remove a child’s ventilator, saying that “if a baby has a disease process that’s so bad that they’re going to die, then they die on the ventilator anyway.”

The hospital had appeared set to remove Joseph’s ventilator last Monday, but was delayed when Handelman made clear to the family that they could refuse.  The hospital’s move came after a February 17th decision from Ontario Superior Court Justice Helen Rady upholding a January verdict from the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario, which had supported the doctors’ move to take Joseph off life support against his parents’ wishes.

Justice Rady’s decision was based on doctors’ testimony that he is in a permanent vegetative state with no brain stem reflex.  But the family says that footage released Thursday by LifeSiteNews belies the doctors’ claim.  The videos, taken just over a week ago, show him flailing and reacting to tickling.  They also show that his hands have been tied down - a measure the hospital took after Joseph removed the tube from his throat on at least two separate occasions.

The hospital is now asking Ontario’s Office of the Public Guardian to intervene and allow them to take Joseph off his ventilator, after the parents have continued to refuse consent.  That office has been unsuccessful in asking other family members to consent instead, and could intervene itself any day.

In the last week, the case has drawn attention from major pro-life and anti-euthanasia groups in the U.S. who hope to find a hospital willing to take over Joseph’s care.  Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of the U.S.-based Priests for Life, has pledged to pay for Joseph to be moved to a hospital in the U.S.

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has warned that the court decision facilitates a system where doctors are authorized to force life and death decisions on patients.  He has said he believes it is far worse than the “death panels” recently debated in the U.S. as part of the federal health care law.

“It’s the hospitals and the doctors once again usurping their power over the people,” he said.  “That’s what’s happening.  And they have significant power - they have the money and the courts behind them.  It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Over 13,000 people have rallied behind the parents through the Facebook page “Save baby Joseph”.

To join a Facebook page in support of the parents of Joseph Maraachli, click here.

Contact Information:

Bonnie Adamson
President and CEO, London Health Sciences Centre
800 Commissioners Road East
London, Ontario Canada N6A 5W9
Phone: 519-685-8462
E-mail: bonnie.adamson@lhsc.on.ca

Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1
Fax: (416) 325-3745
E-mail: Use this form.

Tim Hudak, Opposition Leader
The Ontario PC Party
19 Duncan Street
Suite 401
Toronto, ON M5H 3H1
Phone: 416-861-0020
Toll-free: 1-800-903-6453
Fax: 416-861-9593
Email: tim.hudakco@pc.ola.org

[kaila]

no.
However,this is not assisted suicide, the baby is already dead.
You can blow air into a corpse via a ventilator for a long time.
The person looks alive as the ventilator is blowing air into him, but the patient is dead.

He has occasional spontaneous eyelid opening and movements of his lower extremities. His pupils do

not react to light and he has neither visual fixation nor following. His brainstem reflexes are

either abnormal or absent. He exhibits limb withdrawal to pain, but no purposeful response to

pain. He demonstrates facial grimacing with secretions and stimulation (i.e. suctioning,

repositioning, changing diaper). In summary, his neurological examination remains grossly

abnormal and the clinical findings reflect a severe and widespread neurological injury. JM has

failed removal of the breathing tube previously requiring replacement (November 8-11, 2010).

He remains on a ventilator with a background rate. Many attempts have been made to allow

him to breathe spontaneously on the ventilator; however, within short periods of time, the

ventilator reverts to a backup rate due to prolonged periods without breaths.”

Why dont you show your pulmonologist father in law this report?

[kaila]

This baby is not American.
This is not euthanasia it is letting a dead baby off the ventilator, and avoiding unneccasry surgery.

[wagglebee]

However,this is not assisted suicide, the baby is already dead.

You are basing this on nothing more than your opinion, it IS NOT based on ANYTHING in the report you posted.

Why dont you show your pulmonologist father in law this report?

I did, he's of the opinion that Baby Joseph may very well die within a few months, but that he can live without the ventilator as long as he has the tracheotomy.

[trisham]

You’re in the wrong profession. Have you ever considered becoming a mortician?

[BykrBayb]

Is this the only baby you take this position on, or would you hold the position in regards to American babies?

Show me the death certificate. You can’t, because you’re lying. This is not a dead baby. He is alive. You’re advocating killing him.

You used the argument that illegal aliens are entitled to have all of their health care paid for by Americans at the expense of the lives of Americans. I just want to know how you can justify such an opinion.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

You lost the debate, so now you’re lashing out. That’s not surprising, nurse.

[wagglebee]

This baby is not American.

What does Baby Joseph's nationality have to do with ANYTHING?

NOBODY is suggesting that the American taxpayers pay for his care, NOBODY.

YOU are trying to make this about money and in my experience this is almost always done to divert attention from the culture of death's actual agenda.

If you want me to quit comparing you to the culture of death quit repeating their talking points; until then, deal with it.

“This person suffering from hereditary defects

costs the people 60,000 Reichmarks during his lifetime.

People, that is your money. Read ‘New People’.”

[Brian Kopp DPM]

However,this is not assisted suicide, the baby is already dead.

You can blow air into a corpse via a ventilator for a long time.

The person looks alive as the ventilator is blowing air into him, but the patient is dead.

This is just propaganda, and quite a poor attempt at that, Nurse Mengele. If you truly believe this, I truly feel sorry for you.

[kaila]

“”You used the argument that illegal aliens are entitled to have all of their health care paid for by Americans at the expense of the lives of Americans. I just want to know how you can justify such an opinion.”

No, I was using that as an example. People want to bring this baby to an American hospital. I am against that. It is the same as bringing in illegals to take advantage of our healthcare. I am against that, too.
The people who want this baby transported here do not see the difference. On one hand, they are against illegals using our healthcare. On the other hand, they want to bring this child here. It does not compute.

This decision on American babies and adults happens everyday in hospitals.We cannot keep dead people alive on ventilators, it would bankrupt this country even further.

This child cannot be declared dead until they remove him from the ventilator.He would then stop breathing.You can keep a dead person alive on a ventilator. Take for instance organ donors. They are dead, but on a ventilator until donation surgery.So there is no death certificate yet.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

somehow you are all resistent to paying for healthcare for illegals.

Actually, I treat illegal aliens on a regular basis, and I only charge them what they can afford.

I think you're projecting your own bias on us.

[kaila]

You lost the debate, so now you’re lashing out. That’s not surprising, nurse

No, you all lost the debate.
Do you all realize how ridiculous your arguments are?
I know medical people, and they agree with me on this case.
Quite a few of posts on this subject here have been full of inaccuracies, that somehow a trach will make this baby better.
I do not post much on FR, but I am a monthly donor.
However, when I see posts that are just out of whack, I tend to debate on them.

[kaila]

Actually, I treat illegal aliens on a regular basis, and I only charge them what they can afford.

Wow, I did not know podiatrists took ER call.
If you actually walked into an ER, you would see them there, on American taxpayer dollars paying for their treatment.
You are insulated from that.

[wagglebee]

People want to bring this baby to an American hospital. I am against that. It is the same as bringing in illegals to take advantage of our healthcare. I am against that, too.

NOBODY is asking for American taxpayers to pay for Baby Joseph's care. You have offered ZERO PROOF of your claim and you are doing it to divert attention from the real issue.

Canadians who are sick of the Canadian health care system come to America and pay for medical care EVERY DAY. There no similarity between this and illegals using ERs for free.

The people who want this baby transported here do not see the difference. On one hand, they are against illegals using our healthcare. On the other hand, they want to bring this child here. It does not compute.

No, it is YOU who doesn't see the difference. There are NO LAWS against people from any country coming to America and paying for health care out of their own pockets and I've never seen ANYONE suggest that they shouldn't be allowed to.

YOU are making money an issue where it isn't.

This decision on American babies and adults happens everyday in hospitals.We cannot keep dead people alive on ventilators, it would bankrupt this country even further.

Unless you can provide documentation that the American taxpayers would be asked to pay for Baby Joseph's care, your statement is meaningless.

This child cannot be declared dead until they remove him from the ventilator.He would then stop breathing.

NOWHERE in the medical report you posted does it make this claim; in fact it says this:

Dr. F discussed the condition of ZM, the sister of JM, who died in infancy after a prolonged stay at LHSC. He said that her MRI and MRS were remarkably similar to those completed on JM. He said that Dr. S was involved in ZM's case and that the doctors reluctantly agreed to give her a tracheostomy and send her home.

Baby Joseph's sister survived for SIX MONTHS with her tracheotomy.

[EternalVigilance]

New tagline...

[Brian Kopp DPM]

You’re offering facts to a euthanasia zealot. That don’t want to hear facts. In their sick mind, this baby is already dead. May God have Mercy on them.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Quite a few of posts on this subject here have been full of inaccuracies, that somehow a trach will make this baby better.

Actually, nobody has claimed that on this thread. The only claim that has been made is that a trach will permit the child to breathe on his own, without a vent, so he can go home to die a natural death, not "get better."

I called Priests For Life yesterday. They already have all the private funding lined up to care for this baby. If he is brought to the USA, it will not cost you or any other taxpayer a penny. So stop your whining about illegal aliens or costs. Christian conservatives will foot the bill, not you or the government.

[wagglebee]

Beautiful tagline!

[wagglebee]

I called Priests For Life yesterday. They already have all the private funding lined up to care for this baby. If he is brought to the USA, it will not cost you or any other taxpayer a penny. So stop your whining about illegal aliens or costs. Christian conservatives will foot the bill, not you or the government.

I've been saying this for a week. Priests for Life would not offer to pay for Baby Joseph's care if they didn't have the funding.

Hell, I said on this very thread yesterday that if the hospital is unwilling to give him a tracheotomy due to the cost that I would be happy to give them a credit card over the phone.

I think the death mongers have determined that their best course of action with conservatives is to try to make it about money. What they don't understand is that conservatives care more about human life than they do about money.

[DJ MacWoW]

but I am a monthly donor.

So am I. What's your point.

[BykrBayb]

We cannot keep dead people alive on ventilators

That's right. We can't. Dead people are dead. Live people are alive. There are no zombies hanging around, pretending to be alive. If you see someone moving on their own, or reacting in any way to their environment, that person is alive.

Until you develop a basic understanding of this simple fact, you will remain incapable of understanding any of the more complicated issues involved. At the rate you're going, I don't think you'll ever understand the concept of right and wrong as it pertains to caring for or killing vulnerable people.