Jeana (DP)
Former Member
Hospital, mom battle over life support
In court today, facility to argue that ventilator is prolonging suffering
HOUSTON Tiny, delicate and genetically deformed, a boy named Sun has been lying in intensive care at Texas Children's Hospital since he was born Sept. 25, sustained by a mechanical ventilator and, for now, by a court order.
Doctors have decided, following a process provided by Texas law, that it's unethical to continue life support because the boy has a lethal skeletal abnormality that causes a shrunken upper body and undeveloped lungs.
Wanda Hudson say the doctors want to "murder" her son.
He's suffocating, doctors say.
But Sun's mother, Wanda Hudson, 33, is fighting to keep her son alive, and the matter has ended up in court. Harris County Probate Judge William McCulloch will hold a hearing today to decide whether to continue a temporary order barring termination of life support.
Sun's case is raising a new elemental question of life-and-death decisions.
But it's different from another well-known case that of Terry Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose family and politicians have fought over letting her die, said William Winslade, who teaches medical law and ethics.
The Hudson case is in court partly because the hospital lacks confidence in the mother's mental competence. She says her son was fathered not by a man but by "the sun that shines in the sky," who will decide whether he lives.
* * *
Typically, conditions such as Sun's, which doctors call thanatophoric dysplasia, are diagnosed in-utero and pregnancies ended, he said. But Ms. Hudson, a former dental technician, did not go to the doctor before delivering her baby.
"I didn't receive prenatal care because I trusted in the sun," she said. "I also said, 'Sun if you are who you say you are, which is creator of the sun and the Earth, then let me have Sun with no pain.' So I had my son with no pain. Ever since then, it's just been a battle," she said.
* * *
What is thanatophoric dysplasia: A condition characterized by disproportionately short arms and legs with extra folds of skin, a narrow chest, small ribs, underdeveloped lungs, and an enlarged head with a large forehead and prominent, wide-spaced eyes.
* * *
When doctors suggested to Ms. Hudson that Sun should be allowed to die peacefully, she said they wanted to "murder" him because they didn't understand he's special.
"When I told them ... who he was ... they felt like they had to put me in a psychiatric hospital," said Ms. Hudson, who has a healthy 17-year-old son who lives with his father.
When she last looked at Sun, Ms. Hudson said, she saw "a handsome baby boy that's full of life, love and energy, just raring to go."
Hospital officials have said the baby is not conscious and lies almost motionless.
* * *
The law requires the hospital to sustain the baby for at least 10 days to allow Ms. Hudson to find a hospital that will honor her wishes. She and her lawyer have been looking since shortly after Sun's birth in September but hadn't found one as of Tuesday, Mr. Caballero said.
Whatever the court decides, doctors say it's likely that Sun will die within a few months because no amount of artificial life support can sustain him for long.
On the other hand, Mr. Caballero said he has found cases of children living for several years.
"They did die eventually, but they did have a life," he said. "Who's to say that's not the right decision?"
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/020905dntexbaby.58503.html
In court today, facility to argue that ventilator is prolonging suffering
HOUSTON Tiny, delicate and genetically deformed, a boy named Sun has been lying in intensive care at Texas Children's Hospital since he was born Sept. 25, sustained by a mechanical ventilator and, for now, by a court order.
Doctors have decided, following a process provided by Texas law, that it's unethical to continue life support because the boy has a lethal skeletal abnormality that causes a shrunken upper body and undeveloped lungs.
Wanda Hudson say the doctors want to "murder" her son.
He's suffocating, doctors say.
But Sun's mother, Wanda Hudson, 33, is fighting to keep her son alive, and the matter has ended up in court. Harris County Probate Judge William McCulloch will hold a hearing today to decide whether to continue a temporary order barring termination of life support.
Sun's case is raising a new elemental question of life-and-death decisions.
But it's different from another well-known case that of Terry Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose family and politicians have fought over letting her die, said William Winslade, who teaches medical law and ethics.
The Hudson case is in court partly because the hospital lacks confidence in the mother's mental competence. She says her son was fathered not by a man but by "the sun that shines in the sky," who will decide whether he lives.
* * *
Typically, conditions such as Sun's, which doctors call thanatophoric dysplasia, are diagnosed in-utero and pregnancies ended, he said. But Ms. Hudson, a former dental technician, did not go to the doctor before delivering her baby.
"I didn't receive prenatal care because I trusted in the sun," she said. "I also said, 'Sun if you are who you say you are, which is creator of the sun and the Earth, then let me have Sun with no pain.' So I had my son with no pain. Ever since then, it's just been a battle," she said.
* * *
What is thanatophoric dysplasia: A condition characterized by disproportionately short arms and legs with extra folds of skin, a narrow chest, small ribs, underdeveloped lungs, and an enlarged head with a large forehead and prominent, wide-spaced eyes.
* * *
When doctors suggested to Ms. Hudson that Sun should be allowed to die peacefully, she said they wanted to "murder" him because they didn't understand he's special.
"When I told them ... who he was ... they felt like they had to put me in a psychiatric hospital," said Ms. Hudson, who has a healthy 17-year-old son who lives with his father.
When she last looked at Sun, Ms. Hudson said, she saw "a handsome baby boy that's full of life, love and energy, just raring to go."
Hospital officials have said the baby is not conscious and lies almost motionless.
* * *
The law requires the hospital to sustain the baby for at least 10 days to allow Ms. Hudson to find a hospital that will honor her wishes. She and her lawyer have been looking since shortly after Sun's birth in September but hadn't found one as of Tuesday, Mr. Caballero said.
Whatever the court decides, doctors say it's likely that Sun will die within a few months because no amount of artificial life support can sustain him for long.
On the other hand, Mr. Caballero said he has found cases of children living for several years.
"They did die eventually, but they did have a life," he said. "Who's to say that's not the right decision?"
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/020905dntexbaby.58503.html
