Unusual Texas law at center of fight over baby's life

AUSTIN — As 17-month-old Emilio Gonzales lies in a hospital, hooked up to tubes to help him breathe and eat, his mother holds him close and cherishes every movement.
Catarina Gonzales knows her baby is terminally ill and that one day she'll have to let go. But it's not yet time, she and her attorneys contend in their legal clash with hospital officials who want to stop Emilio's life-sustaining treatment.
An unusual Texas law signed by George W. Bush when he was governor lets the hospital make that life-or-death call. The latest legal dispute over the law — Emilio's case — goes to court again Tuesday, the day his life support is set to end.
"The family has made a unified decision" to keep Emilio living through artificial means, said Joshua Carden, an attorney for the Gonzales family. "The hospital is making quality of life value judgments. That's a huge source of concern."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4699274.html

My heart just breaks for this mother. I don't care how sick this baby is, no one has the right to kill him! :furious: I cannot even imagine someone telling me that they are going to kill my child and I have no control over it. Again, another travesty that we should not have to face in this nation. I wrote the governers office asking him to intervene. Obviously this child is not going to live forever, so why can't they just let God take him when it is time?

I agree that it is not the hospitals decision. But either way this child will suffer. The question is for how long ? The months maybe years more he has left going through all of those horrible things that they have to do to keep him alive, or for the minutes it takes him to suffocate to death in agony and terror. Not an easy decision.

Oh my God this is horrible. I know first hand what that feels like because I was put in the situation. Not exactly this same situation but the doctors held a meeting with my husband and I after one month of my son being on life support and they basically asked us to please not be selfish & to think of our son and the quality of life he would have if he survived at all. It was no hard decision for me because there was no way I would give my permission to ''pull the plug'' but just hearing the doctors tell you all these things and to be put in that situation is horrible. I really feel for these people.

This despicable law really scares me since I have no health insurance and of course this law affects indigents and it is all about money. Texas should be ashamed. I'd love to move out of this place. I noticed that they are not even sure what disease this boy has. He is believed to suffer from Leigh's disease and is on Medicaid. They would not do this to rich people with fantastic medical coverage.

txsvicki said:

This despicable law really scares me since I have no health insurance and of course this law affects indigents and it is all about money. Texas should be ashamed. I'd love to move out of this place. I noticed that they are not even sure what disease this boy has. He is believed to suffer from Leigh's disease and is on Medicaid. They would not do this to rich people with fantastic medical coverage.

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That's my primary concern about this. Will the uninsured and poor be first ones they pull the plug on? Hospitals are about profits. This child's care could easily run into millions of dollars. Medicaid will only reimburse a portion of this, the hospital loses money on this baby. To the hospital he's not worth it, to his family he is worth everything. I agree, they want to kill this baby for the bottom line. Bush would NEVER be in this position, so it was easy for him to sign this. I'm sure the hospitals spent a ton on money lobbying for this. God bless this baby and his family to prevail.

ETA: I have NO problem with TX killing criminals on death row, but it's entirely insane to start killing babies. JMO

Snips from the article...
Carden argues that Emilio's death by asphyxiation would be painful. He said the law prevents hospital workers from even giving the boy the drugs death row inmates receive to help them as they are executed by lethal injection.
"It's not like he'll just drift quietly off," he said.

Catarina Gonzales, 23, who has no other children and cannot have more, denies that her son is non-responsive, as medical caregivers say, Carden said. She says that the boy smiles and turns his head toward voices.

"We feel that the original decision is right, and it's time to proceed," said Regier, the hospital's lawyer.


I hope the hospital's lawyer rots in h*ll. This mother will watch her baby die a torturous death. A death row inmate gets to die a PEACEFUL death, yet this INNOCENT baby won't even be given the "luxury" of that??? How freakin' insane!!!!!! :furious:

SadieMae said:

That's my primary concern about this. Will the uninsured and poor be first ones they pull the plug on? Hospitals are about profits. This child's care could easily run into millions of dollars. Medicaid will only reimburse a portion of this, the hospital loses money on this baby. To the hospital he's not worth it, to his family he is worth everything. I agree, they want to kill this baby for the bottom line. Bush would NEVER be in this position, so it was easy for him to sign this. I'm sure the hospitals spent a ton on money lobbying for this. God bless this baby and his family to prevail.

ETA: I have NO problem with TX killing criminals on death row, but it's entirely insane to start killing babies. JMO

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"Will the uninsured and poor be first ones they pull the plug on?"

You must know that's a given.

the main problem i have with death row is how bloody expensive it is when the finances to bring someone to full justice could be better spent on care for those who deserve it, IMO.

but how can i really know who deserves the chop with no appeal or not, i suppose?

txsvicki said:

This despicable law really scares me since I have no health insurance and of course this law affects indigents and it is all about money. Texas should be ashamed. I'd love to move out of this place. I noticed that they are not even sure what disease this boy has. He is believed to suffer from Leigh's disease and is on Medicaid. They would not do this to rich people with fantastic medical coverage.

Click to expand...

Actually, in my experience, they have tried to do this to rich people w/ fantastic medical coverage. One of my high school students was in a car accident in the late '90s. He was thrown from the vehicle and the car landed on his head. The hospital (affiliated w/ UGA) fought and fought w/ his dad about pulling him off life support and donating his organs (2+ months of fighting and arguing)because he was and always would be a vegetable. His dad finally pulled him out of that hospital and put him in Scottish Rite Childrens' Hospital near Atlanta. He woke up two days after being placed there. While he is not "normal" with a traumatic brain injury, he IS a lovely, pleasant young man. He will live a good life and he has a future because his father couldn't give up on him. (His mother was killed a few years earlier and his dad couldn't give up what was left--their son.)
He graduated from high school a year late, and there was not a dry eye on the field when he walked up to get his diploma.

Pandora said:

Actually, in my experience, they have tried to do this to rich people w/ fantastic medical coverage. One of my high school students was in a car accident in the late '90s. He was thrown from the vehicle and the car landed on his head. The hospital (affiliated w/ UGA) fought and fought w/ his dad about pulling him off life support and donating his organs (2+ months of fighting and arguing)because he was and always would be a vegetable. His dad finally pulled him out of that hospital and put him in Scottish Rite Childrens' Hospital near Atlanta. He woke up two days after being placed there. While he is not "normal" with a traumatic brain injury, he IS a lovely, pleasant young man. He will live a good life and he has a future because his father couldn't give up on him. (His mother was killed a few years earlier and his dad couldn't give up what was left--their son.)
He graduated from high school a year late, and there was not a dry eye on the field when he walked up to get his diploma.

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What a wonderful story, brought tears to my eyes. Parents just can never give up on their kids. That's a perfect example. I think the decisions should be left entirely to the parents, not others. I as a parent will know in my heart when I must let my child go and I strongly feel it needs to be my decision for me to have peace after losing my child.

Emilio will not be disconnected....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/10/baby.care.ap/index.html

Snip;
Emilio has health coverage through Medicaid, and the hospital contends money is not part of its decision.

Yeah, bet it doesn't!! :bang:

I was coming to post the same thing.

Pandora said:

Actually, in my experience, they have tried to do this to rich people w/ fantastic medical coverage. One of my high school students was in a car accident in the late '90s. He was thrown from the vehicle and the car landed on his head. The hospital (affiliated w/ UGA) fought and fought w/ his dad about pulling him off life support and donating his organs (2+ months of fighting and arguing)because he was and always would be a vegetable. His dad finally pulled him out of that hospital and put him in Scottish Rite Childrens' Hospital near Atlanta. He woke up two days after being placed there. While he is not "normal" with a traumatic brain injury, he IS a lovely, pleasant young man. He will live a good life and he has a future because his father couldn't give up on him. (His mother was killed a few years earlier and his dad couldn't give up what was left--their son.)
He graduated from high school a year late, and there was not a dry eye on the field when he walked up to get his diploma.

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What a wonderful story!

Thoughts and prayers to all involved.

I was so relieved to see that a judge had granted a nine day stay. However, this still doesn't mean that Emilio won't be "murdered".

"Please contact Texas Governor Perry's office and ask him to give the child in the Austin hospital a reprieve. He can give reprieves to death row inmates. He can save the life of the child in Austin.

The person to contact in Governor Perry's office is Nora Cox: ncox@governor.state.tx.us

There is also a great article with alot more information here:

http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/2007/031807SavingEmilio.html