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A Tarrant County judge Friday ruled in favor of the family of a brain-dead pregnant woman who wished to take the mother off life support.
The ruling came after a brief hearing held Friday afternoon in a case that has drawn attention around the world. The judge said Marlise Munoz must be removed from life support by 5 p.m. on Monday and that the hospital can appeal.
Munoz, 33, developed a blood clot, and in November, before controversy surrounded her brain-dead condition, Munoz was taken to JPS Hospital, 14 weeks pregnant with her second child.
The hospital disagreed with the family's wishes to have her removed from life support, citing a Texas law that requires a pregnant woman to be kept on life support until the fetus is viable at about 24 to 26 weeks.
The family of Munoz could be seen wiping away tears during Friday's hearing in a Tarrant County courtroom.
Court documents filed on Friday by a family's lawyers and prosecutors representing a Ft. Worth hospital stated the fetus inside a brain-dead pregnant woman was "not viable."
The court filing was the first time the hospital publicly acknowledged the deteriorating condition of the fetus and came just hours before the Friday afternoon hearing.
Erick Munoz, Marlise's husband, filed his own two-page sworn affidavit Thursday.
He begins by stating, "Since my wife's death on November 26th, 2013, I have had to endure the pain of watching my wife's dead body be treated as if she were alive."
He goes on to say he is positive that his wife Marlise is dead and lists several reasons, saying in part, "When I bend down to kiss her forehead, her usual scent is gone, replaced instead with what I can only describe as the smell of death."
He also says, "Her limbs have become so stiff and rigid due to her deteriorating condition that now, when I move her hands, her bones crack and her legs are nothing more than dead weight."
Lawyers for the family on said Wednesday said in a court filing the fetus of Munoz "is distinctly abnormal" and its lower extremities deformed
How unfortunate, for both people involved.
What is unfortunate, the court decision ?
Of course, a life was taken due to it.
A life that should have been allowed to pass with the mother.
Texas hospital ordered to remove life support from pregnant, brain-dead woman | Fox NewsNot much is known about fetal survival when mothers suffer brain death during pregnancy. German doctors who searched for such cases found 30 of them in nearly 30 years, according to an article published in the journal BMC Medicine in 2010.
Those mothers were further along in pregnancy -- 22 weeks on average -- when brain death occurred than in the Texas case. Birth results were available for 19 cases. In 12, a viable child was born. Follow-up results were available for six, all of whom developed normally.
Bless this family. They have suffered in a way that is cruel.
Texas hospital ordered to remove life support from pregnant, brain-dead woman | Fox News
I'd say that KNOWING that at least 6 of 30 babies in a similar circumstance developed normally would be a rather compelling reason NOT to pull the plug.
This was a fetus that suffered prolonged anoxic insult. The lack of viability was inevitable. If the doctors did not have a sense of that, then....they probably need some refresher courses.Why? If her body would survive birth and that life brought out of the womb, allowing it to die was needless, cruel and unethical.
GREAT NEWS!!!!!! THANK GOD!!!
now i hope they sue the pants off the hospital for being forced to suffer like they did and abusing the wifes body.
I also hope the law is thrown out in the future or minimum it is rewritten so it doesnt violate RvW and other individual rights.
SO happy for the family for this to be over with i cant imagine the amount of pain and suffering and torture they were forced through.
This was a fetus that suffered prolonged anoxic insult. The lack of viability was inevitable. If the doctors did not have a sense of that, then....they probably need some refresher courses.
Texas hospital ordered to remove life support from pregnant, brain-dead woman | Fox News
I'd say that KNOWING that at least 6 of 30 babies in a similar circumstance developed normally would be a rather compelling reason NOT to pull the plug.
To me the law was always clear. The subject was the pregnant patient. You do not continue life support to a brain dead patient. If the fetus was at a viable stage, deliver it.
Show me one of those cases that were as a result of a prolonged anoxic insult. Otherwise you are comparing apples to oranges.
Bless this family. They have suffered in a way that is cruel.
I don't know the case in detail, but if it was possible to carry to term they should have done all they can to save the child.
How do you feel about hospitals denying care to an otherwise "viable" patient that would survive if they got that care? Say a man goes to the ER with angina developing to full on cardiac arrest. The hospital staff can save him, but should they say "well, it's against our wishes to save you for x reason" and let him naturally die? Ethically there isn't too much difference considering both are human lives. They are different cases with different considering, but in both they are allowing someone to die when there are means to save them available.
I'm quite confident in my knowledge of biology though, refresher courses won't be needed.
I would agree.
And based on the evidence presented, I would agree that the court made the only appropriate ruling.
I believe the operative words in the article presented are: Court documents filed on Friday by a family's lawyers and prosecutors representing a Ft. Worth hospital stated the fetus inside a brain-dead pregnant woman was "not viable." The court filing was the first time the hospital publicly acknowledged the deteriorating condition of the fetus and came just hours before the Friday afternoon hearing.
I hope this puts to rest comments about the hospital having a hidden agenda and acting illegally. By all accounts I've seen, they seem to have been acting professionally and in compliance with the law, as they saw it.
Of course, a life was taken due to it.
1.)My only disgust is with the length of time this took to get to the courts. Courts have schedules, but the hospital should have insisted this be fast tracked. I have a hard time believing it two 2 months to get here.
That information isn't readily available but if it turns out that even one of those situations was comparable (though the baby was a few weeks further along) would that change your mind?
My only disgust is with the length of time this took to get to the courts. Courts have schedules, but the hospital should have insisted this be fast tracked. I have a hard time believing it two 2 months to get here.