22-year old Christian Lanciano overdosed on herion on August 22nd. Subsequently, doctors at Martinsburg [West Virginia] City Hospital determined that Chris was brain dead.
But Chris's mother, Angela Lanciano Moreno, "has done some research on her own and thinks that, yes, he may recover." On Monday, Berkeley County Circuit Judge Gina Groh granted the mother a temporary restraining order. It gives Lanciano's family members ten days to find another facility to take over care for him or to come up with another plan. (MetroNews Talkline)
Notably, the mother was shocked to discover that there is a "state law that gives doctors the authority to remove a patient from life-support equipment if the person is determined to be brain dead." (Martinsburg Journal) Obviously, this is a very common law. Hospital attorney Robert Brandfass rightly noted his client's concern about "life-continuing services when there is no life to continue."
Finally, hopefully, the doctors do not, as reported, actually "believe he is brain dead and is being kept alive by artificial means." If he is brain dead, then he cannot be kept alive.
2 comments:
In most states, to my knowledge, "brain dead" = dead. The only thing that an injunction might accomplish is time to argue "dead".
Try to imagine a situation is which another facility would want to accept transfer of a patient who has already been declared dead?
Dean M. Frate, M.D.
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