Appeals court grants emergency motion to keep baby at Cook Children’s on life support
The Texas Second Court of Appeals on Friday granted an emergency motion to stay a ruling that had permitted a Fort Worth hospital to disconnect an ailing infant from a ventilator against her relatives’ wishes.
The stay requires Cook Children’s Medical Center to keep Tinslee Lewis linked to life-sustaining care while a legal appeal is considered, according to Texas Right to Life, a statewide anti-abortion group.
Tinslee was born prematurely in February with a rare heart defect called an Ebstein anomaly. She also suffers from a chronic lung disease and severe chronic pulmonary hypertension.
Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice Sandee Marion had ruled Thursday that the child could be taken off life support, a step Cook Children’s officials had sought.
“Our medical judgment is that Tinslee should be allowed to pass naturally and peacefully rather than artificially kept alive by painful treatments. Even with the most extraordinary measures the medical team is taking, Tinslee continues to suffer,” a hospital representative wrote after the ruling. “To keep her alive, doctors and nurses must keep her on a constant stream of painkillers, sedatives, and paralytics.”
Lawyers for the hospital argued at a Dec. 12 hearing that Tinslee’s condition will not improve and keeping her on life support is causing her needless suffering.
The hospital has contacted at least 19 other facilities to determine whether Tinslee could be transferred, but said each agreed with Cook Children’s diagnosis.
Joe Nixon, Tinslee’s family’s lawyer, has argued that the hospital does not have the right to decide whether Tinslee lives or dies and Marion’s ruling deprived the family of its ability to direct Tinslee’s medical care.
The hospital had agreed, regardless of whether the stay was granted, to keep Tinslee on life support for seven days after Marion’s ruling.
The Second Court of Appeals is based in Fort Worth and is made up of seven judges who have jurisdiction over appeals from district and county courts in 12 counties, including Tarrant.
The case has drawn the attention of Texas’ top officials and earlier Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to the Second Court of Appeals that urged the court to grant an emergency stay until the family’s appeal could be resolved.
Paxton celebrated the news on Twitter. He thanked the court and urged prayers for Tinslee’s family.
In a joint statement Thursday, Abbott and Paxton called Tinslee’s case “complex and heartbreaking” and signaled their willingness to support the case if it reached the Supreme Court.
“If the Court does not stay that order and preserve the status quo, baby T.L. will suffer the ultimate — and jurisdiction-threatening — irreparable harm: She will die. Simply put, this case presents a life-or-death decision,” the Friday letter read.
At the heart of Tinslee’s case is a provision of the Texas Advance Directives Act. If doctors determine care is futile or medically inappropriate, Texas Health & Safety Code 166.046 allows an ethics committee to choose to end treatment 10 days after a family is notified, unless the family can find another hospital to take the patient.
Tinslee’s case has renewed calls for the law’s repeal, and last month 16 state lawmakers signed a letter, urging the governor to call a special session to address the law at the center of the case. From Tarrant County, Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, and Reps. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth; Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford; and Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, signed on.
Abbott has the sole authority to call lawmakers back for a special legislative session, and while he has espoused his support of Tinslee’s case, he has yet to do so.
Signed into law in 1999, the provision at the heart of Tinslee’s case, known as the 10-Day Rule, had the support of both physician and anti-abortion groups at the time it was passed. But that has since changed, with support divided over the controversial law. Supporters argue it gives hospitals the necessary recourse to make difficult decisions, while opponents say it gives physicians undue moral authority over who lives or dies.
State Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Democrat from Houston who was one of the original authors of the Advance Directives Act 20 years ago, previously told the Star-Telegram that he is open to tweaking the act, but that overall the law is sound.
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 7:48 PM.
