On Monday this week, NDY was contacted by Texas attorney Jerri Ward, who has worked extensively on behalf of families and patients in fighting the aggressive implementation of “futility” policies in Texas.
The subject of the call was an impending court hearing in Dallas County juvenile court to decide on a petition by a court-appointed guardian to allow withdrawal of life-support from six-month-old David Coronado. David was allegedly the victim of severe abuse at the hands of his parents.
Here’s a summary of the rationale for removing life support from this infant from the January 17th edition of the Dallas Morning News:
On Monday, the infant’s court-appointed guardian filed a motion in Dallas County juvenile court asking that doctors at Children’s be permitted to remove David Jr. from life support.
The motion, noting that the parents “have not consented to withdrawal of support,” argues it is in his best interest. Court records describe him as “neurologically devastated.”
If this sounds familiar, it should. This is even milder language than that used by the Department of Human Services in Massachusetts to justify the removal of life-support from Haleigh Poutre, who was also apparently abused and written off as “virtually brain-dead.” As anyone familiar with the case knows, the accused abuser challenged the removal of life-support, delaying the action long enough so that by the time Poutre was “granted” the “right” to die with “dignity” she had already shown signs of awareness and improvement.
(I wondered in the Poutre case – and in this one – if part of the dynamics relate to the desire to nail the accused abusers with murder charges. The only trouble with that is that you have to have the kid die to level a murder charge.)
Fortunately, in this case, we have a reprieve for David Coronado. Here’s part of the story, as related in today’s edition of the Dallas Morning News:
The fate of a brain-damaged 6-month-old Dallas boy is uncertain after his court-appointed attorney on Tuesday withdrew a motion to let doctors take the baby off life support.
But the fate of his parents, arrested last month on child abuse charges, may hinge on whether David Coronado Jr. survives his horrific injuries.
The baby’s attorney ad litem, Holly Schreier, told a juvenile district court judge that doctors at Children’s Medical Center Dallas had assessed a change in the baby’s condition. She did not say what the change was, and she did not return a call for comment.
A doctor reported in December that he expected David to suffer severe disabilities if he survived. It is unclear if doctors now expect the baby to remain in a vegetative or minimally conscious state.
Meanwhile, word of the possible hearing on withdrawing the child’s life support had spread over the weekend among right-to-life and disabilities-rights groups, at least one of which readied attorneys to intervene Tuesday morning.
“Brains are very resilient, and in a 6-month-old baby, to conclude that he’s neurologically devastated and is going to stay permanently that way I think is irresponsible,” said Jerri Lynn Ward, an attorney representing Not Dead Yet, a disabilities-rights group. (emphasis added)
Schreier’s motion to allow support to be withdrawn did not explain her reasoning, other than to say that it was in the baby’s best interest and that she had discussed the issue with doctors at Children’s.
As the article shows, the result of that call was to arrange for Jerri Ward to represent the Texas chapter of NDY as intervenors in the case.
Here’s the thing, though. The withdrawal of the motion by the attorney ad litem wasn’t unexpected.
The day before the hearing (which was cancelled), Bob Kafka (national ADAPT organizer and organizer of Not Dead Yet of Texas) emailed the following to the Executive Commissioner of Texas HHS (and cc’d to several activists/advocates concerned with futility issues):
Though we are still getting information our understanding is that CPS is going to court tomorrow to have life supports withdrawn. If as we have been told this is occurring because of severe cognitive involvement it raises major red flags. I know you have confidentiality requirements would appreciate any info you can provide.
By late that evening, Kafka and other recipients of the email were informed that “additional information” had been received, the motion had been withdrawn and that CPS hadn’t taken any action to remove life support.
Bob says there’s no way to tell if his email had anything to do with the withdrawal of the motion. OTOH, I am sure it didn’t hurt.
It also puts Child Protective Services and the hospital on notice – there are people who care very much how this child’s life is handled. –Stephen Drake
Addendum: Reporter Steve Thompson (who reported on the Coronado case) writes on the Dallas Morning News‘ “Crime Blog” and he has a little more on the motion that was withdrawn – turns out that the phrase “for now” was well-advised:
The attorney/guardian ad litem told the judge that the baby, David Coronado Jr., had had a change of condition. She did not say what the change was.
“Withdrawing” a motion, I’m told, doesn’t make it go away. It just means that it won’t be heard right then. So, since it may come into play again, I thought people might be interested in reading it.
He’s reproduced the motion from his notes on the blog, which you can read here.
It also means that actions can work!
Well done.
Posted by Geoff @ 6:09 PM Thu, Jan 22, 2009
Happening again and again, but still incredible, as too is the support of Americans and others across the continent for this child.
We saved one. Perhaps the tide that stems from the eugenics and genocide movement of previous centuries can be stopped in its tracks. At least this gives us a little hope. Good job!