LONDON, Ont. — A lawyer says the breathing tube keeping a terminally ill baby alive will not be removed at a London, Ont., hospital this morning as planned.
The London Heath Sciences Centre says in a release that a Michigan hospital requested Joseph Maraachli’s medical information to determine the “feasibility and appropriateness of a potential patient transfer.”
The 13-month-old child suffers from a progressive neurological disease and has been at the London hospital since October.
A Windsor, Ont., couple lost their legal fight to stop doctors from removing the breathing tube that is keeping the baby alive, and the tube was to have been removed by 10 a.m.
The family’s new lawyer says, instead, the hospital will seek consent to remove life support by first asking his parents, then relatives and finally the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee.
While that person is legally required to follow the court ruling, the process will take a few days as the trustee reviews the case before giving consent.
The parents fear their son will die a painful death if the breathing tube is removed.
They want doctors to perform a tracheotomy so the baby can breathe and be allowed to die at home.