Fetus of Texas woman on life support 'distinctly abnormal,' family lawyers say

[davidpdx]

Source: MSNBC

Attorneys for the family of a brain-dead pregnant woman who is in life support in a Texas hospital said Wednesday they have medical records showing the fetus is "distinctly abnormal."

They issued the statement, they said, to clear up any “misconceptions about the condition of the fetus.”

Erick Munoz, the husband of 33-year-old former paramedic Marlise Munoz, has filed a lawsuit against John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth seeking to remove her from life support.

snip

“Even at this early stage, the lower extremities are deformed to the extent the gender cannot be determined,” the statement says.

In addition the statement says the fetus as swelling of the brain — “hydrocephalus” — as well as possible heart problem.

Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/22/22404705-fetus-of-texas-woman-on-life-support-distinctly-abnormal-family-lawyers-say?lite

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The courts should let both the mother and baby die.

[msanthrope]

1. I hope he wins, and soon. nt

[blkmusclmachine]

2. The forced-birthers/fetus-fetishists will drag this family as far through the mud as possible...

[CreekDog]

33. some of them are here

[TreasonousBastard]

3. This whole thing is just so insane...

and there is no need for it.

None at all.

[blkmusclmachine]

4. The anti-choicers are religiously insane. No logic, science, or simple humanity is involved in their

Agenda.

[NealK]

17. +1 n/t

[elfin]

5. Send all medical bills

To the Rethug party apparatus of Texas.

[pnwmom]

20. Yes. Because marriage ends at death, so this man isn't responsible for any of them. n/t

[pnwmom]

6. As someone said, this is an experiment with the mother's body as an ecosystem.

It's appalling beyond belief. How could any rational person expect that a fetus whose mother had turned blue from oxygen deprivation for "well over" an hour could ever develop normally?

[NealK]

19. "rational person"

Anybody who's approving this abomination is certainly not rational.

[niyad]

7. the woman is, in fact, brain dead, and there is no baby--there is a fetus. we make a huge

mistake in using the framing of the anti-choice, woman-hating, pro-forced birthers.

[theHandpuppet]

9. +100

Thank you.

[nolabear]

8. Dear God; this seems like a horror movie.

All the things we use to describe hell on earth are being done to these two beings. It needs to end.

[niyad]

11. it is, indeed, a horror. maybe civil suits costing the pukes who wrote, and are enforcing, this

insane situation, billions, might cause two brain cells to arc.

[ReRe]

10. Didn't she have a Living Will with a DNR?

I don't get why the hospital has the right to trump her written wishes, other than it's Texas that the sad incident occurred in. If I was her husband, I would move as far away from that state as I could.
Just get the eff OUT of the South, period.

[justamama83]

12. Seems it it is Texas state law

I believe I read here that it is the law in Texas...even if she had the DNR- a sad, sick state of affairs.

[niyad]

13. the state of texas (and 30 others) have a lovely little provision in the law that pregnancy negates

any living wills, dnr's, etc. the body of marlise munoz is, in effect, a ward of the state of texas, and her husband has no say.

[davidpdx]

14. She did have a DNR

The complication was the pregnancy. The hospital is refusing to take her off life support citing Texas law. I was watching AC 360 and Mark Geragos was saying that the hospital is misinterpreting the law.

Hopefully now that it has been discovered that the fetus is malformed she will be taken off life support.

[MrsKirkley]

15. Since there's proof the fetus isn't developing normally, will they finally pull the plug?

[jeff47]

18. Probably not.

They'll declare it God's will and insist the fetus can be delivered successfully.

While billing the husband for the hospital care. Dead people don't have insurance.

[proReality]

16. This is what happens when Republican TeaBaggers play at being god's instrument. n/t

[blackspade]

21. Heartbreaking.

Texas is doing this family, especially the woman and fetus a grave disservice..

[stg81]

22. she is already legally dead

[davidpdx]

31. To quote Mark Geragos

"She's dead, she's a corpse, it's ghoulish"

[kestrel91316]

23. The mother is already dead.

In the event that child survives until birth, the father should immediately take it to a more progressive state where HE can be in charge of its care and withhold heroic care as he sees fit to let it die naturally, in peace. I fear that TX will try to force heroic measures to keep IT alive, against the family's wishes. Because if it is severely deformed, I can't imagine the family wanting everything possible done to keep ITS heart beating, too.

[davidpdx]

34. I don't understand why I couldn't be done now

He could argue that there is not precedent with the California case of the girl who was dead. Her family refused to remove her from life support and moved her. New Mexico wouldn't be that far and is much more progressive.

I have a bad feeling that the Texas court is going to make her stay on life support until the baby is born (or dies inside her). The latter being the most likely outcome.

[rebecca_herman]

24. Not surprised

I don't know enough about those specific abnormalities to say if they were caused by the lack of oxygen or it's just a sad coincidence, but either way, I don't see how a severely premature baby with those defects could survive. It should have been the family's decision anyway but now they've dragged this out and caused the family even more suffering for a fetus that has no chance at becoming a healthy, living, baby.

[Hulk]

25. This whole story is just sick.

Are these fook'd up texan law makers and teabaggers trying to make a new movie of "The Fly", or some similar horror movie? This is absolutely insane. Is Bachmann ready to adopt this pathetic birth? Maybe palin? Maybe gohmert? or vannity?

[mountain grammy]

26. This is sick, especially in a state where executions occur almost monthly..

[Solly Mack]

27. Sick.

Needlessly cruel.

[Warpy]

28. The fetus was 10 weeks before minimal viability when she died.

That's one hell of a long time to be held in a dead body and expected to arrive normal, especially since it was likely anoxic for a period before her husband found her.

The only successes I've seen with women being maintained on life support to deliver a fetus has been when the fetus has been much closer to viability and usually closer to term.

The whole thing is grotesque. A non viable fetus should never take precedence over the wishes of living, breathing human beings.

Perhaps forcing the hospital to eat the bill for this grotesque misreading of a law meant to be life saving instead of death prolonging would serve as a warning for other bible thumping martinets out there. The hospital should also eat the bill for the care of a child who, if it survives until the age of viability, will be severely deformed and have an extremely poor quality of life.

Shame on the lot of them.

[davidpdx]

32. See post #31

You'll never believe who I quoted, especially when you agree with him.

[frwrfpos]

29. evil

letting a corpse artificially animate a clump of dead cells..

evil sociopaths

[Herself]

30. pro birther's remind me of the human experiments done by Nazi's

Total disregard for humanity, and done in the name of their "god"

[sakabatou]

35. Of course, the anti-choicers would shout it's murder

I'm with the husband.

[get the red out]

36. So who is going to pay

Are the Churches in Texas going to step up to the plate and provide care for this new, severely disabled, human being they are forcing into the world? For the rest of his/her life? No, at that point it falls on the family forced by the fanatics' hold on the law that will bear the brunt of this hell forever.

[dickthegrouch]

37. This is so easy to fix

A Judge with integrity who has an interest in preserving the integrity of the entire legal process would summarily deny Standing to everyone but the Husband.

[hamsterjill]

38. It is ludicrous.

It is absolutely ludicrous that this situation has been allowed to get to this point.

This poor already-grieving family is being dragged through the mud over a deeply personal and what should be PRIVATE decision. They should not have to justify nor explain their reasoning. The woman had been clear to her family that she didn't want heroic measures to be taken to keep her alive. End of story.

[Amimnoch]

39. Since it is Texas, couldn't they just play the religious belief card?

I mean, this IS the state that protects parents who have living, breathing, and normal children with life threatening illnesses to deny their living children hospital care due to their belief in god, and belief that praying over the child is greater that giving the child known, and proven medical care.

Perhaps the family and husband should come out and state that the treatment the hospital is giving is against their belief in the big Jesus daddy boogey-man up der in da sky, and that according to their belief in god the hospital is working for Satan and it's their prayers that will save the baby.

Who knows.. that kind of logic (and I use that word lightly here) seems to work just fine with the cons.

[NNguyenMD]

40. he should have her transferred to a near by state that has no such provision

this is so horrifically tragic and embarrassing to the profession, that sadly, I am a member of.

[davidpdx]

41. See Post #34

I wonder if New Mexico would be an option. Pretty much all the other states surrounding them have similar laws.

If the baby is deformed, then the life support would need to be pulled before it becomes viable. Once that happens all bets are off.

[Brickbat]

42. The woman's wishes should be followed because they were her wishes, not because the fetus is

abnormal.