About 3 weeks ago, this blog reported on the case of young David Coronado, a 6-month-old infant allegedly beaten severely by at least one of his parents. Initially, a court-appointed guardian planned to petition for removal of life-support. The scheduled hearing to hear the petition was cancelled due to unspecified “new information.” (We received detailed reports of developments thanks to attorney Jerri Ward, who agreed to represent the Texas NDY chapter in any hearings on this matter.)
There’s some good news today regarding David Coronado, at least enough to give rise to cautious optimism. David is now breathing on his own – which means that his condition has improved, lessening the threat of moves to end his life by his court-appointed guardian.
From the Dallas Morning News:
Just last month, attorneys were considering whether to withdraw life support from 7-month-old David Coronado Jr., whose parents are accused of inflicting scars too numerous to count.
Now the brain-damaged Dallas boy is breathing on his own, and authorities are looking into who might eventually get custody of David should he survive.
“He is off life support at this time, but the prognosis is still uncertain,” Michael Kotwal, an attorney representing Child Protective Services, told a judge Friday morning at a status hearing in Dallas County juvenile district court.
“We’re asking for about 90 days to see exactly what’s going to happen,” Kotwal said. “And possibly if there’s any – not that the child is ready to be moved or transferred to any kind of relative placement – but if the child’s condition does improve and that becomes an option, we need some time to explore the possibilities.”
The court-appointed guardian who originally petitioned for removal of life-support isn’t quoted in this article, but she’s mentioned:
On Jan. 12, the baby’s court-appointed attorney, Holly Schreier, filed a motion asking a judge to allow doctors to remove David from life support. While noting his parents had not consented, she said it would be in his best interest.
But the next week, Schreier withdrew the motion, citing a change in the baby’s condition. She did not return a call for comment Friday.
Who knows – perhaps Schreier still feels that dying would have been in David Coronado’s best interests. It would be nice to think there might be a day in the future when David himself might be able to venture an opinion on that.
Meanwhile, there’s another case sadly similar to David Coronado’s. An infant, severely abused, and there are deliberations going on regarding just who gets to make decisions regarding that infant’s life-support. We’ll see what, if any, lessons have been learned from David Coronado. –Stephen Drake
Coronado. Gold. Isn’t there a history of Texas using the theme of pretending death is better than suffering because it’s saving money to deny care?
Is there a link between all the media who support the misnamed “right to die” and political conservatives in Europe, the US, elsewhere and “saving money” by denying medical care? Add bias towards severely disabled. (Yes, I do remember Stephen Drake’s comment on “DemocracyNow” that the Republicans want us to die more slowly that the Democrats, who are allegedly liberal. A paraphrase.)