A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) for a temporary restraining order that would allow 16-month-old Emilio Gonzales of Texas to continue to receive life-saving treatment.
Doctors believe Gonzales has Leigh’s disease, which causes degeneration of the central nervous system and could eventually kill him. Experts say someone with the disease can live to be 7 years old.
“Some days he will hear you, some days he won’t,” Catarina Gonzales said of her son.
She knows Emilio will die young, but wants doctors to recognize the value of his life and to give him the best care possible.
Even so, an ethics panel at Brackenridge Children’s Hospital deemed his situation "futile" and told his mother they planned to end treatment, a move that likely would result in his death.
Under Texas law, once a patient’s condition is determined to be futile, a hospital is required to wait 10 days before discontinuing treatment.
Joshua Carden, an ADF-allied attorney working on the case, said it appears to be all about money.
“People who could profit from an innocent person’s death should not get to decide when it occurs,” he said. “Whatever the hospital’s motives are for pushing to end Emilio’s treatment, a child’s life outweighs all other concerns – whether it’s to cut costs or for convenience or something else.”
The hospital has betrayed the family, Carden added, by subjecting Emilio to “death by vote."
“We are very disappointed that the court today refused to stop this insanity,” Carden said. “Furthermore, the twisted state law that allows hospitals to exterminate disabled children over their parents’ wishes needs to be changed.”
Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, said her organization is working to find an alternative placement for Emilio.
Emilio, she said, would be eligible to go to a long-term pediatric facility if he were given a tracheostomy and a feeding tube – but the hospital has refused to do that.
“We have some new leads,” Graham said, “but we only have until Tuesday before they start withdrawing treatment – so we’re praying some of these leads come through.”
