On the heels of the news that a prominent pro-life legal group, the ACLJ, has moved into play to help the parents of Baby Joseph Maraachli, who is suffering from a terminal illness that will soon take his life, another pro-life group has stepped forward.
Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, tells LifeNews.com that his organization stands ready to transport the child and his family to an American hospital if ACLJ can find one that will take on the little boy and do the tracheotomy procedure his parents want so they can take him home.
“Priests for Life and other pro-life and pro-family organizations have been negotiating with hospitals across the United States for more than a week to have them agree to admit Baby Joseph,” he told LifeNews.com. Pavone added:
“For the most part, they have shown compassion but unfortunately, so far, not one has agreed to take Baby Joseph. The family is asking only to have a simple procedure performed to allow their son to breathe on his own.
“A committee in Canada has declared that efforts on behalf of this boy are futile. The parents are simply asking for a second opinion from an American institution.
“Priests for Life has hired a jet that is standing by now to fly Baby Joseph and his parents anywhere in the U.S. at a moment’s notice. We need one hospital with a sophisticated neo-natal unit and the courage to actually agree to take this child. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to explain to the public why it is that not one has committed to do this yet. I am urgently calling on any U.S. hospitals or administrators who are willing to help to contact my team…
“Life is in the balance. It’s time for the American spirit to rise to this occasion and say Let’s roll!”
The parents of the 13-month-old have been fighting a hospital that wants to remove his breathing tube.
Baby Joseph has been at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario, in October with a rare deteriorating condition that is not improving.
The doctors who have cared for him want to remove his breathing tube but Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader took their battle to court to allow the tube to be removed at home, so the boy can die surrounded by his family. A Superior Court judge in London, Ontario, last week, dismissed the request of the Canadian couple to overturn a decision requiring the removal of their baby’s breathing tube in a hospital instead of at home.
Baby Joseph’s parents want a tracheotomy performed on their son so they can take him off the respirator and bring him home to live his last days surrounded by family. The London hospital has refused to perform the procedure.
Terri Schiavo’s family has gotten involved and they are planning rallies for this weekend.
