Wesley J. Smith: Parents – Not Bioethicists – Should Decide about Baby’s Life Support

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(NRO) – Remember the U.K. cases of Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans — in which doctors and courts forced small children off of life support wanted by parents based on the “experts” view that dying was in the patients’ “best interest?” Well, a similar “futile care” imbroglio has come to Texas.

Tinslee Lewis, age eleven months, has a heart defect. The doctors claim the case is hopeless, that the baby has sepsis, is paralyzed, and appears in pain when her diapers are changed. A hospital bioethics committee has decreed that treatment should be stopped, which it has the power to order under Texas law.

Her parents disagree. They believe there is still hope and are trying to find another hospital to care for the baby. If they can’t, they want a tracheotomy performed, so they can take Tinslee home under palliative care. The doctors again — echoes of the Baby Joseph case in Canada — refuse. CONTINUE