Brain-Dead Texas Woman Kept of Life Support to Incubate 14 Week Pregnancy

[redhawk23]

Marlise Muñoz has had no brain function since November, when she collapsed from a blood clot in her lungs. Her wish was not to be kept artificially alive. Her parents and husband want to let her body die, and her brain-dead condition conforms to the definition of death under Texas law.
But another Texas law involves the 14-week-old fetus in her womb when she was admitted to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. The fetus still registers a heartbeat, although it’s unclear whether it also suffered the same brain-destroying oxygen deprivation that ended Muñoz’s life and whether additional, irreversible damage was inflicted by the electric shocks and drugs administered to revive Muñoz’s body.
As long as there’s a fetal heartbeat, doctors fear that removing support systems from Muñoz’s body could violate a law designed to protect fetuses when their mothers are declared terminally ill.
This represents a huge conundrum, complicated by the fact that Muñoz had declared her desire not to be kept alive by artificial means but had never put those wishes in writing.
Texas law has allowed hospitals to honor patients’ signed declarations, known as advance directives, since 1977, when Karen Ann Quinlan’s case became national news after she collapsed from a drug overdose and entered a permanent vegetative state. A prolonged battle ensued between Quinlan’s parents, who wanted to let her die, and her hospital about the right to disconnect her body from artificial support systems.

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20140109-editorial-let-marlise-munoz-die.ece

*ON life support. wish you could edit titles.

 

[Breogan]

Saw this a few days a go.

So pretty much Texas hospital is experimenting with growing a fetus inside a corps, against the diseased woman's wishes(yes her wish was not to be kept artificially alive) and against her families wishes.

Either -

A. Because of religion? (Women are seen as just "vessels"/incubators.)
or
B. Because of money?
(Widowed husband Muñoz is a fire fighter = good health insurance = hospital can milk it.)

Freakin horror show.

If they did this to my wife, there would be hell to pay.

 

[Ant-manic]

that is quite creepy.

 

[Duke]

Not only is creepy, it's just plain wrong & she should be allowed to pass on peacefully.

 

[Victarion]

The final decision should be in the hands of her husband and immediate family. It sounds like the bureaucracy needs an updating of sorts. If I read the OP right, it's a lack of paperwork that's keeping her hooked up.

 

[redhawk23]

Even stated wishes to not be kept alive, Texas law does not allow for pregnant women to be taken off of life support apparently.