Inclusion Daily Express -- Judge Gives Toddler Ten More Days On Ventilator

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Judge Gives Toddler Ten More Days On Ventilator
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 10, 2007

AUSTIN, TEXAS--Sixteen-month-old Emilio Gonzales has been given a reprieve and his family another 10 days to find a hospital that will treat him and keep him on the ventilator that helps him breathe.

Children's Hospital of Austin had been scheduled on Tuesday to remove the ventilator from the boy, who has been diagnosed with Leigh's disease, a medical condition that affects the central nervous system and leads to an early death. The hospital's ethics committee had determined that keeping Emilio alive would not be in his best interest. They had notified Emilio's mother, Catarina, that they would remove the toddler's ventilator if she could not find another hospital for him.

Under the Texas Futile Care Law, doctors can remove life-sustaining treatment from a child when they determine that it would not be in the child's best interest to be kept alive -- regardless of the parents' wishes.

On Tuesday, Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman ordered the hospital to maintain treatment of the boy while more information could be gathered for a hearing on April 10. Herman also appointed a guardian ad litem to act on Emilio's behalf.

Children's Hospital officials told the Associated Press that they have contacted more than 30 hospitals, but that none have accepted the boy.

Ms. Gonzales, a 23-year-old single mother, does not accept doctors' opinions that the boy's brain is damaged to the point that he cannot respond to his environment and cannot feel anything except pain. She says he responds to her, and she wants him to be helped to stay alive.

Advocates from Not Dead Yet, ADAPT, the Feminist Response in Disability Activism, and other disability groups are urging Texas Governor Rick Perry to intervene on behalf of Emilio and order the hospital to keep the boy alive. The groups are also encouraging advocates to write letters to lawmakers and to sign a petition denouncing the law as "cruel and inhumane".

Perry commented Tuesday on the state's law.

"We're going through an appropriate debate on it, and until we get finalized I'm always going to come down on the side of life and the appropriate dignity for individuals as we go through end of life decisions," he said.

Related:
"Mother of ill baby gets more time to seek hospital; baby gets guardian" (Austin American-Statesman)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0410a.htm
"Judge grants request to keep infant on life-support" (Associated Press via Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4702722.html
"Petition: A Reaction to the Proposed Removal of Emilio Gonzales Life Support"
http://www.petitiononline.com/emilio16/petition.html

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