[[if title = ""]]Dear Friend of Life,[[else]]Dear [[title]] [[last]],[[endif]]

Written in conjunction with National Right to Life

Until Probate Judge Guy Herman intervened yesterday, a hospital in Austin sought to remove 17-month-old Emilio Gonzales from life support today. Judge Herman has protected Emilio’s life for nine days until another hearing on April 19.

Although his mother, Catarina Gonzales, 23, has specifically requested that the hospital should continue treating her son, Texas law allows doctors to override her decision and remove his ventilator. Ms. Gonzalez holds no unrealistic expectations; she recognizes that Emilio is quite ill and that he is unlikely to see his second birthday, but she simply wants him to die naturally, not by a direct act of euthanasia by his doctors.

Although tissue and bone testing have not yielded a definitive diagnosis, Emilio is suspected to have Leigh's disease, a disorder of the central nervous system that causes deterioration in motor skills. Emilio, admitted in December, is currently breathing with the help of a ventilator (through his mouth and throat) and is receiving nutrition through a nasogastric feeding tube.  However, reports indicate that Emilio has breathed spontaneously over the ventilator within the last week.

"I know there's no cure. I know my son is going to die," laments Catarina. "But I want him to die when God calls him, not when someone pulls the plug."

According to information found on the National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke web page, people with Leigh's disease "may live to be 6 or 7 years of age. Some have survived to their mid-teenage years."

Some of Emilio's doctors have declared that further treatment is "medically futile," and they had originally scheduled removal of the ventilator for March 23. They contend that Emilio "is in seizures half the time and has no purposeful movement," the general counsel for the hospital commented to the Associated Press.

However, Gonzales insists that Emilio is conscious and deserves a chance to live. "He responds to my voice," she said. "He is deaf in the left ear but can hear on his right. He opens his eyes and moves his hands and legs."

State legislators held a press conference in conjunction with Texas Right to Life at the Capitol in Austin and invited Catarina to attend. The purpose of the press conference was to highlight the need to change the Texas law and to put a face to the victims of this law; over thirty state legislators were at the press conference to show their support for Catarina and for expansion of the current ten day law. This press conference was held on March 20th, just days before the original time when treatment was slated for removal. Shortly after the news coverage of Emilio's story, the hospital gave Gonzales more time to find an alternative facility and set a new date of April 10 for life support removal.

Texas law falls firmly on the side of the hospital. "You have control over nothing," Gonzales's attorney Jerri Ward told the press. "The hospital has total control over your body, records, and decisions." On a pro-bono basis, Ms. Ward has helped numerous families thrust into this brutal process. (For those efforts and for her dedication, Ward received Texas Right to Life's 2006 Pro-Life Attorney of the Year Award.)

According to the current law, passed in 1999, if doctors determine that life-sustaining treatment requested by a patient's family is "futile," the case is then considered by the hospital ethics committee. If the committee agrees with the doctors, the family has only ten days to find another facility and move the patient, or treatment will end. This 1999 law was the product of two years of negotiations—negotiations prompted by then-Governor Bush's veto of a measure that would have afforded no notice to patients and families.  Regrettably, the judgments have shifted away from the value of treatment to the value of a patient’s quality of life.

Both Texas Right to Life and National Right to Life agreed to the ten day provision, recognizing the vast improvement over no notice of withdrawal of treatment. Emilio's plight and the plight of dozens of other victims of the law have inspired law makers, Texas Right to Life, disability rights organizations, and other family advocates to pursue changes to modify the law. State Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville) and State Rep. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) has filed a bill that would eliminate the ten-day cutoff and require treatment to continue until a transfer can be arranged. (Currently, 80 of the 150 Texas State House members have co-authored the bill and 11 of the 32 State Senators have co-authored) Eleven other states require treatment pending transfer to another physician or facility. "Ten days is not long enough for a patient in these circumstances," said Hughes, according to the AP. (Please review our brief explanation of House Bill 1094)

"Put yourself in my position," added Gonzales, the Austin American-Statesman reported. "How would you feel if I was a doctor and I said, ‘Your son only has 10 days to live and if you can't find a facility, we're going to take him off a respirator ... Friday.'"

Currently no other facility has agreed to admit Emilio. If Emilio was surgically provided a tracheostomy and gastric feeding tube, he would be eligible for transfer to pediatric long term care facilities or for home care. However, the current facility will not provide these to him to facilitate transfer. Pediatric surgeons who would provide these for Emilio and facilities are actively being sought.

Gonzales will continue to fight to make sure that her son is treated properly for as long as needed. "I can't take him off [the respirator]," she told the American-Statesman. "I don't want to take him off, and I don't want him coming to me at night, haunting me, and me thinking I didn't do everything I could."

What can you do immediately?

1. Find out who your State Senator and State Representative are and how to contact them
   
   
2. Find out if they are co-authors of the bill to end this horrible 10 day law:
   • For the State Senate
   • For the State House
     
     
3. Study the brief explanation of the Senate Bill 439 and House Bill 1094.
   
   
4. Call, do not email, your representatives and either thank them for being co-authors or ask them to become co-authors.
   
   
5. Lastly, as a constituent, you have the right to ask for a written letter explaining your representative’s position on this key piece of Pro-Life legislation.