A judge ruled Friday that a brain-dead, pregnant woman in Texas should be removed from life support — that following a ruling by the hospital that her fetus is not viable.
As NBC reports, the Friday ruling by District Judge R.H. Wallace gives John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth until 6 p.m. eastern time on Monday to remove life support from 33-year-old Marlise Munoz.
Munoz initially collapsed on November 26th at 14 weeks pregnant, CNN reports. She was later ruled brain-dead by the hospital.
Since that time her husband, Erick Munoz, has fought to have life support removed — claiming she would not want to be kept alive by machines.
Quoted by The Wall Street Journal he says she specifically asked to not receive "any type of artificial life-sustaining treatment" should something happen to her.
According to The Dallas Morning News, although Marlise Munoz has been declared brain-dead she has not yet been pronounced dead. However, all sides agree that her fetus isn’t viable — even if the mother were not brain-dead.
The paper quotes the judge as saying, “As I understand the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court that if this fetus were not viable [and] Ms. Muñoz were alive … she could abort the child.” (Via The Dallas Morning News)
Erick Munoz, with support from his wife’s family, initially filed suit to have his wife removed from life support January 14th.
