Anyone have the link for the AA baby removed from...

[slor]

feeding tube in Texas from a few days ago. I am trying to call Washington Journal about it.

[REP]

1. You Mean The One Dying Of Thanatophoric Dysplasia?

The one born with thanatophoric ("death bringing") dysplasia was Sun Hudson, whom his mother hadn't visited in 5 months yet insisted he be kept on life support.

[slor]

3. Oh...pro-lifers...

have a five month rule? No visits for five months and you get to die? Had not heard about that one.

[NewHampshireDem]

4. "his mother hadn't visited in 5 months ": Source? n/t

[REP]

5. Article:

Dispute Centers On State's Legal Standard Of Hospital Care


POSTED: 7:34 am CST February 17, 2005
UPDATED: 4:26 pm CST February 17, 2005


HOUSTON -- A mother, fighting to keep a hospital from removing her infant
son from the ventilator that has kept him alive since birth, won another
temporary restraining order Wednesday.


Baby On Life Support


The 1st Court of Appeals reinstated the order keeping 4-month-old Sun
Hudson on life support, just hours after a probate court judge lifted the
order. A hearing is set for Tuesday.


The dispute centers on the legal standard over hospital care in Texas.
Under state law, a hospital must continue care if there is a reasonable
probability that another hospital will admit the patient.


Texas Children's Hospital officials have said no treatment can save Sun,
and they want to remove him from life support. Hospital lawyers said
state officials have contacted almost 40 facilities and none have been
willing to care for infant.


But the boy's mother, Wanda Hudson, believes her son will recover. Her
attorney argued there is a reasonable chance another hospital would take
the child.


"It's hard to describe anything as a victory in this case," said Mario
Caballero, Hudson's attorney.


He believes the initial case was mishandled.


"The case was ramrodded and there was really no fair evaluation of the
facts -- a just evaluation of the facts," he said.


Baby On Life Support


Sun suffers from thanatophoric dysplasia, a genetic condition
characterized by extremely short limbs, a narrow chest, small ribs and
underdeveloped lungs. Infants usually are stillborn or die shortly after
birth from respiratory failure. There have been rare documented cases of
survivors, however.


"He is slowly suffocating to death because his lungs lack the capability
to support his body," the hospital said.


Hudson hasn't seen her son in more than a month but says she believes she
communicates with him telepathically.


"Sun is going to live forever," she said. "As long as the Sun is in the
sky he will live. I don't believe in death."

[NewHampshireDem]

6. One month=Five Months?

Must be the new math :shrug:

I notice the article says that she also did not receive pre-natal care ... could it be she is working multiple jobs and has little opportunity to make the visiting hours? Or perhaps she has no way to make it to the hospital to visit?

I'm not defending her, but let's not climb the ladder of inference here.

[REP]

7. First Article I Could Find + Memory's Not So Good Anymore

I just remembered that the "devoted mother" hadn't seen her kid in some time. I remeber another cite with specifics on the "more than a month" but I'm on my way to bed.

Prenatal care wouldn't've prevented his conditon. It's genetic.

[ET Awful]

8. Hmmm, the baby is four months old, kind of gives lie to your claim

that she hadn't seen him in five doesn't it?

[Jim Sagle]

2. Here:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3087387

[davsand]

9. Was this also an insurance issue?

I don't mean to sound crass, but was that baby uninsured? I had assumd so--given the mother's lack of prenatal care--but I wanted to check and see if any of you knew for sure (the article I saw didn't say...)

There was another article recently about a Texas hospital that wanted to pull the plug on a man--against his family's wishes--because he was a charity care patient (uninsured) and was costing too much to maintain with no hope of recovery (at least according to the hospital).

Something that has bothered me about this entire mess in Florida (She who shall go un-named lest another spate of threads be generated) is the fact that the GOP has worked like demons to politicize that case--but they have not been seen anyplace NEAR these cases in Texas--both which involved minority families.


Laura