(עד שמצליחים להעתיק. רציתי שזה יהיה באשכול המשאלות כי זה רק STUB אבל לא הצלחתי. כאן לאחר נסיונות מרובים כן. רק שתדעו להעריך את המאמץ).
A Texas appeals court on Friday agreed to delay
a judge's ruling
that would have allowed a hospital to life-sustaining treatment for
an 11-month-old girl who doctors say is in pain and will not get
better.
The Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ordered Cook
Children's Medical Center to not remove Tinslee Lewis life support
until it makes a final ruling in the case. The appeals court did not
immediately schedule any hearings in the case.
On Thursday, a judge in Tarrant County denied a request by
Tinslee's mother, Trinity Lewis, to issue an injunction that would have stopped the hospital removing her daughter life support.
Doctors at the Fort Worth hospital had planned to remove Tinslee life support on November 10 after invoking Texas'
"10-day rule,"
which can be employed when a family disagrees with doctors who say
life-sustaining treatment should be stopped. The law stipulates that if
the hospital's ethics committee agrees with doctors, treatment can be
withdrawn after 10 days if a new provider can't be found to take the
patient.
Efforts to find another facility to take the girl have
been unsuccessful. The hospital said it has reached out to more than 20
facilities.
Kimberlyn Schwartz, a spokeswoman for Texas Right to
Life, an anti-abortion group that's advocating for Tinslee, said her
organization was "grateful and relieved" the appeals court had granted
the emergency stay.
She said the court's action would give her
group more time to contact doctors and hospitals who could treat
Tinslee. "This gives us so much hope for Tinslee," Schwartz said. "This
is a prayer answered." A spokeswoman for Cook Children's Medical Center
did not immediately return an email seeking comment Friday evening.
Tinslee
has been at Cook Children's since her premature birth. The hospital
said she has a rare heart defect and suffers chronic lung disease
and severe chronic high blood pressure. She hasn't come off a ventilator
since going into respiratory arrest in early July and requires full
respiratory and cardiac support.
Lewis testified at a hearing
last month that despite her daughter's sedation, she has a sense of the
girl's likes and dislikes, describing her as "sassy." She said Tinslee
likes getting her nails done but doesn't like having her hair brushed.
"I want to be the one to make the decision for her," Lewis said about removing her daughter life support.
At
the hearing, Dr. Jay Duncan, one of Tinslee's physicians, testified
that the girl is in pain and that treatment was no longer benefiting
her.
The case has become a rallying point for Republicans in
Texas. Earlier Friday, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, Governor Greg
Abbott and the state's solicitor general sent a letter to the appeals
court, asking it to delay the judge's order.
"I will continue to
fight for Tinslee and my office will continue to use all necessary
resources to ensure that she will not be deprived of her right to live,"
Paxton said in a statement.
