Baby Emilio gets temporary reprieve
Temporary Reprieve for Emilio Gonzales
Terminally ill baby gets reprieve from Friday deadline to unhook respirator
National groups, including Schiavo’s siblings, involved in case
By Mary Ann Roser
American-Statesman Staff
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
A terminally ill baby at Children’s Hospital of Austin will have at least 18 more days before he is taken off life support after lawyers for the hospital and the boy’s mother agreed Tuesday to give his mother more time to seek another hospital to care for him.
The agreement to leave 16-month-old Emilio Gonzales on a respirator until 5 p.m. April 10, rather than turning off the machine on Friday, came after his mother sued the hospital Tuesday and after lawmakers appealed to the hospital to change its decision.
“Thank you, Lord Jesus. . . . I am so happy that I have more time,” Emilio’s mother, Catarina Gonzales, 23, of Lockhart, said as she burst into tears at the news Tuesday evening.
Emilio has become a cause cilhbre of organizations in Texas and across the country that say the law usurps the rights of loved ones to make life-and-death decisions. Gonzales’ growing group of supporters includes state lawmakers, right-to-life and disability rights organizations, and even the brother and sister of Terri Schiavo, who died in Florida after a bitter court fight two years ago.
Gonzales now faces the daunting task of finding another facility that will agree to care for Emilio. Gonzales and Children’s Hospital said they have been searching for another facility for many weeks, to no avail. Without the respirator, Emilio would die within hours, said lawyer Jerri Ward, who is representing Gonzales.
Doctors at Children’s Hospital say that ongoing treatment for Emilio is potentially painful and futile because he has no hope of recovery. They diagnosed Emilio with Leigh’s Disease, a rare neurometabolic disorder that causes the central nervous system to
collapse and motor skills to degenerate.
Gonzales said she wants her son to receive treatment until he dies,without doctors deciding his fate. “Put yourself in my position,” she said Tuesday at a news conference at the Capitol. “How would you feel if I was a doctor and I said, ‘Your son only has 10 days to live and if you can’t find a facility, we’re going to take him off a respirator . . . Friday,” she said.
Ward asked the hospital late Tuesday for more time, and the agreement was reached between Ward and Michael Regier, general counsel for the Seton Family of Hospitals, said Seton spokeswoman Michele Gonzalez.
However, under Texas law, the ultimate decision on whether to withdraw care rests with Emilio’s doctors, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday. If the doctors decide to withdraw care, the law gives families 10 days to find another facility. Asked whether Emilio’s doctors agreed with Tuesday’s decision, Gonzalez said:”We will work with the physicians and staff to make sure the treatment continues.”
Emilio’s care is being paid for by Medicare and Medicaid, and the cost probably has reached hundreds of thousands of dollars, said a Seton attorney.
The extension means the lawsuit against the hospital will not proceed, Ward said.
At the Capitol news conference, members of organizations such as Texas Right to Life threw their support behind a bill that would eliminate the 10-day rule and require doctors to treat terminally ill patients until another facility can be found to accept them.
Emilio “is the latest victim of this law,” said state Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, who is co-authoring the bill to change the law. Hughes’ bill has more than 60 co-sponsors in the House.
Regier, the hospital’s lawyer, said in some cases there simply isn’t another facility that will accept a terminal patient.
Bob Kafka of Austin, national organizer for the disability rights group Not Dead Yet, later shared letters that organizations, including the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, have written to Gov. Rick Perry urging him to “spare the life” of Emilio, who has been in the pediatric intensive care unit since Dec. 28.
“It seems like the medical community is trying to institutionalize, or worse, kill people with disabilities, ” Kafka said.
Schiavo’s siblings, Suzanne Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler, are aiding in the national search for a hospital that will take Emilio, said Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life. Schiavo’s case became national news after her husband petitioned a court to remove the feeding tube that had helped keep her alive for 15 years. Schiavo’s parents fought back, arguing that their brain-damaged daughter was conscious and not in a persistent vegetative state, as doctors said. Schiavo died in March 2005 at age 41 after a court ordered the feeding tube removed.
Gonzales said her son is aware and fighting to live, despite doctors’ contentions that he is comatose.
RA’s Note: I am glad that Baby Emilio has been given a reprieve, but the key word here is temporary. We must remain diligent and fight for a permanent reprieve until Emilio’s mother is able to find a hospital that will take him. Emilio and others with severe disabilities must have the right to live out their lives without a doctor overriding the decisions of family members and loved ones. I still contend that if Emilio and his mother were wealthy, we would not be having this fight.