Ethics Debate Over 17month Old Boy

Emilio Gonzales lies in bed at the Austin Children's Hospital's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit were a debate is going on to cut life support or allow him to die of natural causes.

His mother believes that he is not in pain since he is on a high level of morphine, but nurses say the look that the mother is convinced is a smile is actually a look of pain.

Emilio is only 17 months old but has a rare genetic disorder that is shutting down his central nervous system. He can not speak, eat or see and a ventilator is all that is allowing him to breathe. He has been in the Austin Children Hospital since December. There is no cure for the genetic disorder inflicted on this young boy. The medical staff say that Emilio would die in a few hours if taken off the ventilator.

This had created a debated between the mother fighting a losing battle for her sons life and the hospital which claims they are doing harm to the child by keeping him alive. Under Texas law, Austin Children's Hospital has the right to withdraw medical assistance if it is deemed medically inappropriate. The two sides have been in and out of court several times with the next hearing scheduled for May 8.

The law signed by then Gov. George W. Bush allows hospitals to act in the best interest of it patients. It is to stop treatment if deemed "Inappropriate" even when family members want treatment to continue.

It has started a debate among the Ethicist to who has the right to pull the plug. Art Caplan, an ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, agrees with the Texas law saying, "There are occasions when family members just don't get it right," he said. "No parent should have the right to cause suffering to a kid in a futile situation."

While Dr. Lainie Ross, a pediatrician and medical ethicist at the University of Chicago, says it should be the parents decision to allow their child to be taken off or remain on life support. She says, "Who am I to judge what's a good quality of life?" She goes on to say, "If this were my kid, I'd have pulled the ventilator months ago, but this isn't my kid."

The mother believes her son is in not pain and says he responds to her talking to him. She says, "I put my finger in his hand, and I'm talking to him, and he'll squeeze it. Then he'll open his eyes and look at me." Gonzales says she will continue to fight for her son. She goes on to say, "I love my kid so much, I have to fight for him. That's your job -- you fight for your son or your daughter. You don't let nobody push you around or make decisions for you."

Hospital spokesman, Michael Regier, senior vice president for legal affairs and general counsel for the Seton Family of Hospitals, says "[Our medical treatments] are inflicting suffering. We are inflicting harm on this child. And it's harm that is without a corresponding medical benefit."

"It's one thing to harm a child and know this is something I can cure, but that's not the case here." Regier says Emilio's ventilator tube down his throat is painful and the staff has to beat on the child's chest to loosen thick secretions to add in his breathing. This is all very painful and Emilio's face gestures are of pain not smiles.

The debate can continue but for now Emilio lays in the hospital hooked to machines with his family beside him in a hopeless battle.

(Elizabeth Cohen, "Fight over baby's life support divided ethists" www.cnn.com)