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[SBD]

Parents, Hospital Fight Over Comatose Boy


By Eyewitness News' N.J. Burkett
(The Bronx-WABC, April 22, 2005) — A 13-year-old boy on life support is in the middle of a legal battle between his parents -- and Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx.

His mother and father are pleading for more time to get a second opinion--before doctors turn off the machines that are keeping him alive. Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett joins us live from Montefiore Hospital.

The boy remains on life support tonight. He has been ruled brain-dead by his doctors, by the boy's relatives simply don't accept that. And they say they were pressured by the hospital--to pull the plug.

Eyewitness News has obtained exclusive photographs taken by the boy's relatives, just hours ago.


Images from the Story
13-year-old Taran Francis was declared clinically dead by his doctors, after what sources say were at least two negative brain scans.

Annmarie Douglas, boy's aunt: "He's still breathing; he's warm; he's warm to the touch. The child is still breathing, and you're going to tell me to accept this?! I can't!"

The boy's aunt and his mother claim the hospital told them that they had 24 hours to mourn, before life support would be disconnected.

Robert Genis, family attorney: "It's common practice for any one of us in our daily lives to get a second opinion. Sometimes doctors disagree."

Annmarie Douglas: ""We need more time. We need more time to find out what's going, what happened to my nephew."

Doctors have told the family that Taran developed a dental infection. And in a rare chain of events, it produced a brain infection.

Late this afternoon the hospital released a statement: "It is our policy, consistent with NY state law, to allow grieving families time to accept the diagnosis of brain death and to seek outside opinions, if they wish. We would not simply remove a brain dead patient from a respirator in the face of objections from the family."

This afternoon, a Bronx judge issued a court order forbidding the hospital from disconnecting the boy's life support. The state law does require a reasonable, but unspecified, amount of time before that is done. A hearing in this case is now scheduled for Monday morning.


SBD

[BuffaloJack]

The article link is here.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_042205_fightforlife.html
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[kman]

Pretty good discussion--from several points of view--on brain death here:

http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~mbernste/ethics.braindeath.html