Hearing Friday for Family of Pregnant, Brain Dead Woman
By Frank Heinz
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2014 , Updated 5:39 PM CST


Photo of the Munoz family with their first child. Marlise Munoz is pregnant with the couple's second child.

A hearing to determine whether a pregnant, brain dead Tarrant County woman can be removed from life support will be heard Friday.

Marlise Munoz has been on life support since being found unconscious Nov. 26 by her husband Erick. The family said they don't know why she lost consciousness, though a blood clot remains a possibility.

...more at link
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Hearin ... 79381.html

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Lawyers detail why pregnant woman should be removed from life-support
WFAA Posted on January 22, 2014 at 5:19 PM
Updated today at 6:58 PM

FORT WORTH — Attorneys for the family of a pregnant woman who is brain dead and on life support at a Fort Worth hospital released a statement Wednesday afternoon in an effort to clarify the condition of the fetus Marlise Muñoz is carrying.
[...]

WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS FOLLOW
"[T]he fetus is distinctly abnormal," said Muñoz family attorneys Heather King and Jessica Janicek in the statement. "Even at this early stage, the lower extremities are deformed to the extent that the gender cannot be determined."

The attorneys say the fetus has hydrocephalus (water on the brain), and a possible heart problem, though details can't be determined "due to the immobile nature of Mrs. Muñoz's deceased body."

In the lawsuit against JPS, Erick Muñoz claims since his wife is brain-dead, and therefore can't be considered a "pregnant patient." The condition of the fetus is immaterial to the lawsuit.

...more at link
http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Munoz-l ... 50881.html

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Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Hearing tomorrow

Attorneys: Brain-dead woman's fetus 'abnormal'

By NOMAAN MERCHANT, Associated Press | January 22, 2014 | Updated: January 23, 2014 8:59am
Snip

Munoz's attorneys, Heather King and Jessica Hall Janicek, issued a statement Wednesday describing the condition of the fetus, now believed to be at about 22 weeks' gestation. King and Janicek based their statement on medical records they received from the hospital.

"According to the medical records we have been provided, the fetus is distinctly abnormal," the attorneys said. "Even at this early stage, the lower extremities are deformed to the extent that the gender cannot be determined."

The attorneys said the fetus also has fluid building up inside the skull and possibly has a heart problem.

"Quite sadly, this information is not surprising due to the fact that the fetus, after being deprived of oxygen for an indeterminate length of time, is gestating within a dead and deteriorating body, as a horrified family looks on in absolute anguish, distress and sadness," the attorneys said.

http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article ... 166403.php

Thanks for the "heads up" Mimi....

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Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Most welcome

Hospital, family concur that brain-dead Texas woman's fetus 'not viable'
By Greg Botelho, CNN
January 24, 2014 -- Updated 2023 GMT (0423 HKT)

(CNN) -- For the first time, John Peter Smith Hospital acknowledges that Marlise Munoz, who is being kept on a respirator under Texas law, has been brain dead since November 28 and that the "fetus gestating inside Mrs. Munoz is not viable," according to court documents released before a Friday hearing.

The woman's husband has repeatedly made these claims in his efforts to have her removed from the machines so the family can bury her.

Erick Munoz contends doctors told him his wife "had lost all activity in her brain stem" and an accompanying chart stated that she was "brain dead." He has further called her "nothing more than an empty shell" who should be left to rest in peace.

The overarching, complicated issue of whether the pregnant woman should be kept on a ventilator, as prescribed by Texas law, could be answered Friday when lawyers for Munoz's family square off in court with those representing Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital.

....more at link
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/24/healt ... man-texas/

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I would hope that this will signal an end to this part of the tragedy?

My only concern was for a "viable" fetus... and it seems that it is NOT viable.

I would hope that the husband can claim his wife's body and put her "to rest"

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

GOOD HEARING OUTCOME - given what we have learned

I haven't heard that on the news yet and I have had it on since 4pm. I so hope it is true because it is the right thing to do.

Oh Deb... you KNOW that RT leads MSM on news....

I have been following tweets from courtroom.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

FOX catching up.....

Judge: brain-dead pregnant woman to be removed from life support
Posted: Jan 25, 2014 10:09 AM Updated: Jan 25, 2014 11:23 AM
By: myfoxdfw.com Staff

A Tarrant County judge Friday ruled in favor of the family of a brain-dead pregnant woman who wished to take the mother off life support.

The ruling came after a brief hearing held Friday afternoon in a case that has drawn attention around the world. The judge said Marlise Munoz must be removed from life support by 5 p.m. on Monday and that the hospital can appeal.

...more at link
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/24542265/ ... an-lawsuit

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

They came on at the end of the news cast to confirm. I am so relieved for that family to finally be able Marlise and her unborn.

What are the chances the Texas legislators who voted for this law will go into their own pockets to re-imburse the hospital for the legal fees they were forced into spending?

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Took my time machine into the shop for service and they said they'd get on it first thing last week.

Hospital: No decision on order to end life support
USA Today
8:34 PM, Jan 25, 2014

A spokeswoman for a Texas hospital won't say whether it will follow a judge's order to take a pregnant brain-dead woman off of life support.

Marlise Munoz, 33, who is believed to be about 22 weeks pregnant, "is deceased" and therefore not subject to a state law that prohibits withdrawal of treatment from a pregnant person, Judge R.H. Wallace ruled on Friday afternoon. The judge said the Fort Worth hospital had until Monday at 5 p.m. to remove Munoz from life support.

Hospital spokeswoman J.R. Labbe said that John Peter Smith Hospital wouldn't announce a decision on whether to appeal the ruling on Saturday.

...more at link
http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/3199 ... um=twitter

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I guess there is still a wait now... then a final announcement.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

A quiet end to a very public tragedy
Posted Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014

By Tim Madigan

tmadigan@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — A nationally publicized ordeal that began two months ago when Erick Muñoz found his pregnant wife on the floor of their suburban home ended quietly Sunday at John Peter Smith Hospital.

The hospital said around midday that it would not appeal a state district judge’s order that Muñoz could remove his wife, Marlise, from life support.

The 33-year-old paramedic, stricken Nov. 26 by a fatal embolism, was about to enter her 23rd week of pregnancy with what would have been the couple’s second child.

A lawyer for the family said Sunday that Marlise Muñoz was pronounced dead a short time after life support was withdrawn.

“Our client, Erick Muñoz, has authorized us to give notice that today, at approximately 11:30 a.m. … Marlise Muñoz’s body was disconnected from ‘life support’ and released to Mr. Muñoz,” said a statement from the family’s attorneys, Heather L. King and Jessica H. Janicek.

“The Muñoz and Machado families will now proceed with the somber task of laying Marlise Muñoz’s body to rest, and grieving over the great loss that has been suffered.

“May Marlise Muñoz finally rest in peace, and her family find the strength to complete what has been an unbearably long and arduous journey.”

....more at link
http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/01/26 ... rylink=cpy

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Such a shame that the family had to be put through all that and that it took so long.

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