FORT WORTH, Texas — Hospital executives in North Texas were conferring Saturday with the district attorney’s office to determine their next step after a judge’s ruling that they must disconnect life support for a pregnant, brain-dead woman, according to a hospital official.
John Peter Smith Hospital spokeswoman J.R. Labbe said “discussions are ongoing” as administrators weigh the order issued a day earlier by Judge R.H. Wallace Jr. The hospital is owned by Tarrant County and is being represented in the contentious case by the district attorney’s office.
Wallace agreed with a request by Erick Munoz to have life support removed for his wife, Marlise. She was 14 weeks pregnant with the couple’s second child when her husband found her unconscious Nov. 26, possibly due to a blood clot.
The judge’s ruling could give Erick Munoz a chance to bury his wife and move forward to care for their son and his relatives. It would also mean the fetus would never be born.
Wallace gave the Fort Worth hospital until 5 p.m. CST Monday to remove life support. Labbe declined to elaborate Saturday on what the hospital’s next step might be — whether to appeal the judge’s order or comply with it. The hospital previously has said it has a duty to protect the fetus.
Both the hospital and the family agree that Marlise Munoz meets the criteria to be considered brain-dead and that the fetus could not be born alive this early in pregnancy. But while the hospital says it’s obligated to protect the fetus, Munoz contends his wife would not have wanted to be kept in this condition. And his attorneys have said medical records show the fetus is “distinctly abnormal.”
