You Be the Judge

A hospital in Texas decided not to fight a judge’s orders to remove a pregnant brain dead woman from life support, removing the woman from the ventilator … and thus ending her nearly 23-week-old baby’s life.

 

“From the onset, JPS has said its role was not to make nor contest law but to follow it,” John Peter Smith Hospital representative J.R. Labbe wrote in a statement.  “ … a state district judge ordered the removal of life-sustaining treatment from Marlise Munoz.  The hospital will follow the court order.”

 

Munoz, 33, has been on a ventilator since late November when her husband Erick, 26, found her unconscious in the middle of the night. According to Mr. Munoz, the woman got up after 2 a.m. to check on their infant son, and when she did not return, he got up to check on both of them, finding his wife collapsed on the floor.  Doctors believe that Munoz suffered a blood clot in her lung, which caused her to collapse.  She has had no brain activity since being admitted to JPS Hospital in Fort Worth two months ago.  Her baby, who was fourteen weeks in gestation at the time of the incident, reportedly had a measurable heartbeat, which resulted in a disagreement between the hospital and Munoz’ family.

 

Munoz’ husband and her parents both wanted the mother removed from life support, asserting that she would not wish to be kept alive by machines.  Munoz worked as a paramedic, as does her husband. “Marlise firmly requested not to be put on life support,” her mother Lynne wrote on a local news outlet’s Facebook page.  “Her wishes are not being honored.”

 

The family filed a lawsuit against JPS Hospital after officials contended that they could not legally remove Munoz from the ventilator due to the Texas Advance Directive Act – which states that “a person may not withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment” from a pregnant woman. Thus, Munoz must be kept on life support until the baby can be delivered at a viable stage, usually 24 to 26 weeks gestation.

 

Following a hearing, Judge R.H. Wallace sided with Munoz’s family, stating that she is deceased and that the law being cited by the hospital does not apply to the dead.  “The provisions of … the Texas Health and Safety Code do not apply to Marlise Munoz because applying the standard used in determining death … Mrs. Munoz is dead,” he wrote.

 

As the hospital had argued at trial that it had never pronounced Munoz dead, Wallace ordered that it now do so and remove her from life support.  The hospital decided to comply with the order and removed Munoz from the ventilator … and released Munoz’ body to her husband.

 

“The Munoz and Machado families will now proceed with the somber task of laying Marlise Munoz’s body to rest, and grieving over the great loss that has been suffered,” attorneys Heather L. King and Jessica H. Janicek wrote in a statement.  “May Marlise Munoz finally rest in peace, and her family find the strength to complete what has been an unbearably long and arduous journey.”

 

However, some are expressing great disapproval over the outcome of the situation, explaining that it has now resulted in two tragedies–the death of both the mother and child.  Based on the information made public, Mrs. Munoz was not experiencing multi-system organ failure or cell disintegration, and her body was supporting the growth of the child within her—all signs indicated that her brain, though impaired or quiescent, was still ordering her physiological functions at some level.

 

“The death of baby Munoz represents a colossal failure on so many levels.  Her father failed her.  The Attorney General of Texas Greg Abbot failed her.  The hospital failed her.  Finally, by usurping the will of the people of Texas, the courts failed her,” said Mark Harrington, Executive Director of the pro-life group Created Equal.”  If only one of those in position to stop this execution of baby Munoz would have stepped up to the plate and done the right thing, she would have been born alive in the next few weeks.  Baby Munoz was a human being who deserved the same legal protections of born people.  The truth is baby Munoz was executed by judicial tyranny.”

 

I appeal to my fellow followers of Jesus; it’s time for us to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.  Proverbs 31:8-9 compels us to do so: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”  We can’t just sit back and do nothing, my friends.  The Bible is very clear.  Proverbs 24:11 lays it out in pretty strong words: “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.”  In some of Moses’ last words, he urges us to choose life in Deuteronomy 30:19: “…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”  Can Christ count on you … who were granted life … to step up, speak out and reach out to pregnant women and unborn children?  May God grant that this evil will pass from our land.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel