Marlise Munoz has been brain dead since Nov. 26, and the suffering of her family can only be getting worse. Munoz was found unconscious on her kitchen floor in November, probably because of a blood clot in her lungs. At the time she was 14 weeks pregnant. Ever since, she has been kept “alive” with a ventilator because the hospital where she was taken, John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, believes it must not withdraw “life-sustaining treatment” from a pregnant patient, based on a Texas law that so mandates. And now, lawyers for Erick Munoz, her husband, say that the fetus that his brain-dead wife has been kept on life support to carry is “distinctly abnormal.”
So Marlise remains hooked up because the hospital is misreading Texas law. NYU bioethicist Arthur Caplan laid this out last week, explaining why the hospital is misinterpreting the law (and also why that law must be unconstitutional). “The fact that the fetus apparently has significant abnormalities shows just how awful, misguided and cruel the Texas law is,” he emailed me Thursday morning. “The uncertainties about the pregnancy—damaged fetus, almost no cases of trying to bring a 14-week-old to term in this circumstance, what he the dad is able to cope with, his dead wife’s wishes about wanting to have a child if she cannot parent, the massive costs involved and the impact of a tragic outcome on his other child—they point clearly in the direction of who should be making the decisions and who should have been making them all along. Not the hospital, not the legislature, not pro-life or pro-choicers—the husband.”
So this abnormal fetus is kept alive in the body of its deceased mother, with virtually no hope that it will be born alive and functioning, while the medical bills stack up and threaten to bankrupt the father, making it almost impossible for him to care for the child that he and his wife had earlier that IS alive. How is any of that "pro-life?"
And let's say that the best case scenario comes to fruition and the baby is born alive, severely deformed, and with a lifetime of hospital visits and surgeries in its future. Does anybody really think these anti-abortion people are going to adopt this child and pay for its future medical care?
Hell no!
He should sue to make the fucking state -- or better yet, all these pro-life idiots -- pick up the hospital bill. That's what I would do. If the hospital tried to send me a bill for this, I'd say, you know what? You can send those to Rick Perry since he thinks this is normal.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the exact same thing except I would send it to everyone involved. So much for keeping government out of our lives. Fucking idiots.
DeletePrimogen1
If I were him, I would refuse to pay any medical bills from the date his wife was pronounced brain-dead. She's dead- she's been dead since November 26. What the hospital did they did not only without permission, but against his specific wishes. He did not purchase the service they insisted on providing, and in no way should he be responsible for the bills.
DeleteIvyfree
I think the hospital should be charged with body-snatching.
What a horrible ghoulish nightmare this family is enduring! I can't even imagine living through it. Are the anti abortion/pro lifers going to pay the hospital bills? Are they going to volunteer to care for the child if it's born? Tex law makers who support this law should have to take care of this family,
ReplyDeleteThe problem is I don't think the hospital is misreading the law. I am not sure how often this happens down here but it does happen. The only reason the rest of the country is now aware of this law is because the family is fighting for her dignity instead of just being quiet. And you are right that the family is going to be financially devastated because even though the state is forcing this to happen, the state is not financially liable. Also, she is legally dead so none of the costs will be covered by insurance. People who support this law talk about the dignity of life. Where is the dignity in using Mrs. Munoz as an incubator? These same people are some of the same ones who hate science but have no problem using medical science for this purpose. The hypocrisy is overwhelming. And btw, I saw a news report a week ago that Texas is not the only state with this kind of law.
ReplyDeleteof course they are misreading the law. The woman is DEAD. They are forcing the fetus to remain in a corpse which is deteriorating daily. The fetus shows extreme abnormalities - flippers for legs, no distinctive gender, swollen brain and deformed heart. IF it has feelings, it is suffering.
Deleteany thinking person would find this obscene.
DeleteSadly, if she was alive, she would have been allowed to abort at 14 weeks....
DeleteThey forced the father to allow the corpse to incubate the fetus until 20+ weeks when it becomes illegal to abort. So now we are there....
There is NO chance the child is viable outside of the body - so do a C-section, pronounce them both and allow the burial/cremation to take place.
What would Spock do....?
ReplyDeleteO.T. but here's something intriguing.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boyswillbeboysmovie.com/
This story is so heartbreaking..... I have no words.
ReplyDeleteIf it was me under the same circumstances, I'd figure out a way to disconnect something she is attached to....it is absolutely idiotic to keep the woman alive. Her poor husband!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at the financial side of it for him more than anything and bringing a child into the world that has no chance and will just cost more money should it live for any length of time!
There are so many reasons why I'm glad I don't live in the State of Texas!
This woman is not being kept alive. She is DEAD. You can not keep a dead thing "alive".
DeleteYou can't just switch those things off. She's on a monitor. If the ventilator is turned off, the monitor will show a disruption. If the monitor is turned off, somebody watching the monitor will say, "Bed 13's monitor is off- somebody check." You can't even unplug it- medical equipment has battery backup for hours after it's unplugged. It would be noticed. Routine checking of the ventilator ensures that it stays plugged in. Heck, you can't cut power to the hospital- they have a generator.
DeleteIvyfree
This is somewhat off topic, however Rick Perry was mentioned earlier in this thread and whenever I think of this champion of truth,justice and the American way I remember the video clip of him somewhere in New England during his unsuccessful presidential primary run. You all may recall this arcane bit of Americana, in a time capsule it would dovetail nicely with Judy Garland singing The Trolley Song. Governor Perry had clearly had a Harvey Wallbanger or three because he clearly mistook his loyal crowd for his bathroom mirror as he giggled, tittered, swooned and rolled his eyes like a mooney schoolgirl. I thought I was seeing things, and I was. Us guys, we all have a feminine side if we're lucky; it helps us understand women, who are indeed mysterious. Rick Perry,with the help of a few barley pops, showed us that a real man is not afraid of this aspect of his personality and feels not a lick of hesitation in showing it. In public. And I dare say likely dresses the part in private. If you take my meaning.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Carlin said it best: (NSFW)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZijLQGH1v0
The husband must take video of the dead, but preserved body, kept as an incubator of the malformed fetus, and put it on the TV just to illuminate the revengelicals of the evil basis of religious based policy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/health/pregnant-brain-dead-woman-texas/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
DeleteToday, the husband's case will be heard in a Ft. Worth, TX court. I agree that the husband might develop even more interest on his side if he released to the media a video of his deceased wife's tragic condition to "illuminate the revengelicals of the evil basis of religious based policy". My heart goes out to all the family who loved this dear woman and who had such hopes for their second baby before her dying body was confiscated by the hospital and state to become an incubator for a 3 1/2 month old fetus.
***
"In an affidavit filed Thursday in court, Erick Munoz said little to him now is recognizable about Marlise. Her bones crack when her stiff limbs move. Her usual scent has been replaced by the "smell of death." And her once lively eyes have become "soulless."
"Over these past two months, nothing about my wife indicates she is alive," Erick Munoz said. "... What sits in front of me is a deteriorating body."
Elsie
this poor family - I can only imagine the stink the corpse must be putting off. Hope she's in a private room...
Deletedisgusting
Since this situation clearly is not his choice as his wife's next of kin, the State of Texas should be paying for all of this medical care. It's their stupid legislation that put this family in this situation.
ReplyDeleteChristians in Texas should be ashamed of themselves.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for some nutjob bablethumper to proclaim the unborn must be kept alive because it could be another of God's wonders just like Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThis is the perfect illustration of how many Republicans see women...simply baby-making factories with no identity of their own. Read A Handmaiden's Tale if you haven't already, then have your daughters (and sons) read it.
ReplyDeleteWhen this not viable baby is born will they make the father pay the bills?
ReplyDeleteThey'll try.
DeleteI expect the insurance company's lawyer will be the first to tell the hospital billing department where to stick it.
When then go after the Father, I'll bet there will be pro bono lawyers falling all over themselves to represent him in court.
I can see a new episode of the tv series "Walking Dead" forming now - do we kill the pregnant zombie or not?
ReplyDeleteThe people carrying around giant posters of dead fetuses in color should be forced to look at pictures of dead bodies that are deteriorating but being forced to breath artificially Frankenstein style.
This isn't life support. This is keep a dead body alive support. The inviable fetus should have been allowed to go with the mother when she naturally died. But of course anti-choice people have to play God and dictate their religious beliefs on everyone else by coaxing a fetus to live in a dead host. Disgusting!
http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/01/fort-worth-hospital-acknowledges-pregnant-woman-is-brain-dead.html/
ReplyDelete"Update: Judge orders JPS Hospital to withdraw life support for brain-dead pregnant woman"
At last. Some reason applied to this appalling situation.
Elsie
I would rather also see the judge demand that none of the bills for this horrible biology lab experiment conducted by the hospital be forced on the poor husband to pay.
DeleteThis story has me on edge and unhinged. With all due respect to the people involved, what Texas wants to do is keep a corpse alive until the fetus can make it outside the womb. One huge hurdle will be, at some point, the body will begin to shut down, tissues will atrophy and die, and the fetus would be poisoned.
ReplyDeleteThe State Of Texas should be held responsible for all the hospital bills, costs of burial, and the grief they're putting this family through. I wouldn't mind Texas becoming bankrupt just to make a point.
How can they be so callous to the husband, who knows what his wife would have wanted, and has to experience the horror of watching his wife waste away.
Where are the Right to Lifers? Pres Bush? We've got another Terri Schiavo and no ones stomping their feet?