Free Republic

September 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Joseph Maraachli, who at only barely one year old drew a groundswell of support when an Ontario hospital refused a simple procedure that would allow him to die at home, has passed away. Baby Joseph, who suffered from a severe but undiagnosed neurological disorder, lived for more than five months after he was flown to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in Missouri for a tracheostomy and brought home. Alex Schadenburg of the Canada-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said Wednesday morning that Baby Joseph died at home surrounded by his family.  “Joseph Maraachli lived a life...

More than three years ago, readers on this site received fair warning that Father Frank Pavone was cruising toward a showdown with officials in the Diocese of Amarillo. Read the comment by Diogenes from August 2008, and you will find the simmering conflict neatly summarized, many months before it boiled over into full public view. Diogenes concluded his analysis this way: The question isn't whether or not the Church will support pro-life work. The question is whether priests and religious, when they engage in pro-life work, remain subject to ecclesiastical discipline. The answer, by the way, is Yes. You can...

Baby Joseph This week, one of the most searing and difficult bioethical cases I have ever encountered was brought to my attention. It involves a premature baby born with serious and substantial developmental anomalies that will in all likelihood cost this little one her life. Before going further with the story, what are most needed at this moment are prayers for Emily (name changed), her mom, and her family. Identifying information has been changed to safeguard the family’s privacy.Emily was born with over a dozen heart defects, and her trachea and esophagus are joined into one common tube at one...

WINDSOR, Ont. — Baby Joseph napping at home in his crib on Easter Sunday is all the proof his father needs that his Ontario doctors were wrong. Only months ago, the fate of 15-month-old Joseph Maraachli was a question mark. Doctors at London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ont., sought to take the infant off life support as he battled a progressive neurological disease. But on Sunday, the round-cheeked baby was home in Windsor, resting in a cradle packed with plush toys. Now and then he opened his eyes or wriggled a little, or moved his arms beneath father Moe...

Baby Joseph with his father Moe Maraachli early this morning as they head home to Windsor, Canada. WINDSOR, Ontario, April 21, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Baby Joseph and his family arrived in Windsor, Ontario on a medical transport flight from St. Louis, Missouri this morning. He is now at the family home, according to Brother Paul O’Donnell. On behalf of Baby Joseph’s family, Brother O’Donnell told LifeSiteNews that that their son was weaned off ventilator support 12 days ago and has been successfully breathing on his own since then. Baby Joseph, who has been at the center of an international right-to-life...

Health Reform: A Canada court had ruled that under socialized medicine their baby must die in the hospital. Now he's in the U.S., getting the care his parents, not the bureaucrats, want. Joseph Maraachli, who’d been set to have his ventilator removed against his parents’ wishes at an Ontario hospital last month, got a tracheotomy Monday morning and is doing well, his family says. The procedure was denied him under a system of medicine that may be coming to a hospital near you courtesy of ObamaCare. His parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, took Joseph to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical...

To join a Facebook page in support of the parents of Joseph Maraachli, click here. ST. LOUIS, Missouri, March 21, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Joseph Maraachli, who had been set to have his ventilator removed against his parents’ wishes at an Ontario hospital last month, received a tracheotomy Monday morning and is doing well, says his family. His parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, took Joseph to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri last Sunday after trying unsuccessfully to get him the simple procedure at his Ontario hospital, London Health Sciences Centre. The surgery involves a slit...

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, March 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Baby Joseph Maraachli will likely get the medical procedure his parents have sought that should let them to take him out of hospital, an official at his new medical facility announced Monday. Dr. Robert Wilmott, head of pediatrics at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri told media late Monday that Joseph “likely will have a tracheotomy performed by the end of this week to facilitate his transition to a skilled nursing facility.” The surgery involves a slit in the throat to allow a breathing tube to be inserted...

ST. LOUIS -- A video just released by Priests for Life shows Father Frank Pavone, national director, interacting with Baby Joseph Maraachli in his hospital room at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center here. The video shows the baby moving his hands and rolling in his bed. The hospital in Ontario, Canada, where he had been a patient since October, declared that the baby was in a persistent vegetative state, but doctors at Cardinal Glennon have told Father Pavone that he is primarily breathing on his own and is responding to touch. "Hospital officials were very, very happy," Father Pavone...

Baby Joseph Will Have Tracheotomy by the End of the Week St. Louis, MO -- Doctors at the Catholic hospital in Missouri that agreed to take Baby Joseph Maraachli, the 14-year-old Canadian infant who was denied the medical procedure in his country, say they will do a tracheotomy by the end of the week. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/15/baby-joseph-will-have-tracheotomy-by-the-end-of-the-week/

The child known as "Baby Joseph" was brought to St. Louis overnight where doctors are evaluating his condition, which had been deemed fatal by Canadian doctors. New York-based Priests for Life arranged for Joseph Maraachli, 13 months, to come to Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center after several other U.S. hospitals declined to treat the child.

Baby Joseph Maraachli Rescued from Canadian Hospital London, Ontario -- Baby Joseph Maraachli has been rescued from a Canadian hospital that refused to perform a medical procedure on the 13-month-old baby so he could return home to his family where he will soon die from a neurological disease that will take his life. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/14/baby-joseph-maraachli-rescued-from-canadian-hospital/

Baby Joseph Maraachli Rescued from Canadian Hospital London, Ontario -- Baby Joseph Maraachli has been rescued from a Canadian hospital that refused to perform a medical procedure on the 13-month-old baby so he could return home to his family where he will soon die from a neurological disease that will take his life. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/14/baby-joseph-maraachli-rescued-from-canadian-hospital/

Baby Joseph being put on the plane for transport to the United States STATEN ISLAND, March 14, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Under cover of darkness, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, arrived in Ontario, Canada, Sunday night to rescue Baby Joseph Maraachli from the London Health Sciences Centre. For two weeks, doctors at the hospital in London, Ontario, have been delaying the baby's transfer to a hospital where efforts to save his life will not be officially labeled "futile." "I knew, after this dragged on day after day, that I needed to be here myself to get...

The baby who was hours from being pulled off life support at his Canadian hospital has been rescued by the national director of Priests for Life and taken to the U.S. for treatment. Thirteen-month-old Joseph Maraachli, who is currently kept alive by a respirator and was recently denied a transfer to a Michigan hospital to undergo a tracheotomy, arrived in the U.S. early Monday morning with Fr. Frank Pavone and other Priests for Life staff. "Priests for Life staff toiled through the night for many nights, working in concert with dozens of people to make this possible," Father Pavone said...

LONDON, Ont. - A dying Windsor, Ont., infant's five-month odyssey in the spotlight took a dramatic turn Sunday, when his parents accepted an offer to fly him to the U.S. against the advice of a London, Ont., hospital.

An American hospital has asked to treat Baby Joseph and a transfer was expected to begin as soon as the weekend, The Free Press has learned. The U.S. hospital, its identity not publicly disclosed, made the request Friday through lawyer Claudio Martini, who represents the parents of the dying Windsor infant who's been at a London hospital since last fall. "(The American hospital) is ready, able and willing to accept Joseph," Martini said. Martini said he trusted that London hospital officials were responding in good faith and that a transfer was imminent.

The parents of a terminally ill Windsor, Ont., baby are being represented by a prominent U.S. lawyer who has ties to Sarah Palin. CeCe Heil is connected to a Washington law firm, which has fought for right-wing Christian causes throughout the United States. Heil said she hopes to find a hospital in the U.S. that will agree to care for Joseph Maraachli, who has been on life support for months at a hospital in London, Ont., due to a fatal neurological disease. Doctors want to remove his breathing tube, and a judge has sided with them, but the family of...

Pro-Life Legal Group Now Helping Parents of Baby Joseph London, Ontario -- The American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-life legal group, is now helping the parents of Baby Joseph Maraachli, who is suffering from a terminal illness that will soon take his life. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/04/pro-life-legal-group-now-helping-parents-of-baby-joseph/