A judge in California has put a temporary stop to a hospital’s attempt to withdraw life support from a 2-year-old boy against his parents’ wishes, according to the law firm representing the family.
Life Legal Defense Foundation said it received a call earlier this week from the mother of Israel Sintson (pictured), who is on life support after suffering a severe asthma attack earlier this month.
When the 2-year-old was transferred from a Sacramento hospital to a Kaiser hospital on April 12, the situation took a turn for the worse. Less than 24 hours after the hospital admitted Israel, the staff notified his parents that they intended to run tests to determine his brain activity and likely would withdraw his life support, according to the pro-life legal group. Without life support, Israel would die.
Israel’s mother said she posted notes throughout his hospital room instructing Kaiser not to conduct any tests on her son without her permission. One of the notes said: “This letter puts you on notice that we will be filing a temporary restraining order with the courts this week. I am in need of more time before any further tests are performed and am requesting an outside physician to intervene and give a second prognosis.”
However, Israel’s mother said the hospital staff ignored the notes and conducted the tests anyway.
On Thursday, a judge in Placer County Superior Court granted the family’s request for a temporary restraining order that prohibits the hospital from withdrawing life support, according to Life Legal. It also requires that Israel receive any treatment needed to maintain his stability, the firm said.
The family was scheduled to appear in front of a judge again today to ask to keep Israel on life support until he can be evaluated by an outside specialist, according to the firm.
The pro-life law group is asking people to “please pray for Israel and his family!”
The past few years have brought increasing attention to cases of families fighting for children who are declared “brain dead.” There are cases where individuals have lived and recovered because their families refused to give up on them; in other cases, however, the individuals died.
In November, LifeNews reported a tragic story of a 7-year-old from New York City who doctors declared brain dead after a choking accident. Her family fought to keep the hospital from taking the young girl off life support, but she died several days later as a result of the accident.
However, another young girl, Jahi McMath, is still alive more than two years after a hospital declared her brain dead and her family fought to keep her alive. In November, the girl’s family celebrated her 15th birthday at her bedside at a New Jersey hospital and posted a series of pictures on her Facebook page.
