At court hearing, both sides say there’s more at stake than baby’s life support
FORT WORTH, Texas — An appeals court heard arguments Tuesday morning supporting and condemning Cook Children’s Hospital’s decision to take a 1-year-old baby off life support in Fort Worth.
The hearing came just three days after Tinslee Lewis’ first birthday, which her family celebrated at the hospital Saturday. Tinslee, lying on a hospital bed and connected to a ventilator, was dressed in a pink tutu and pigtails.
In the Texas Second District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, lawyers for the hospital and Tinslee’s family discussed Tinslee’s treatment.
Tinslee’s mother, 20-yearold Trinity Lewis, said Tinslee has been doing much better for the past week and a half, “which is the best birthday present we can ask for.”
“For over three months, the hospital has said that her life is not worth living,” Lewis said after the hearing. “But Tinslee is still here and she is still fighting.”
The hospital says Tinslee has complex, severe health problems that will not improve and that continuing her care is causing her unnecessary pain and suffering.
She was born prematurely with a rare heart defect called an Ebstein anomaly. She also suffers from a chronic lung disease and severe chronic pulmonary hypertension, and has undergone several complex surgeries.
Kyleen Wright, the president of anti-abortion group Texans for Life, spoke after the hearing in support of Cook Children’s decision to end Tinslee’s care.
“Basically a dying little girl is being tortured to live in paralysis and sedation in agony,” Wright said. “And the very hard and sad reality is that even surviving a diaper change is hard for this child.”
Lewis says her daughter is not suffering, and she still has a chance to get better.
Cook Children’s is not allowed to speak directly on Tinslee’s case but released a statement in regards to Tuesday’s hearing.
“While every patient’s journey looks different, our commitment to them never fades as we keep pressing forward to put our patients’ needs above our own and working hard to give each child the very best care they deserve,” the statement said. “This level of commitment becomes even more important when we are fighting for children who don’t have a voice.”
The argument in Tinslee’s case is two-pronged — on one hand, the family and Cook Children’s are at odds about what is best for Tinslee. On the other, both parties are debating the constitutionality of the state law the hospital is using to try to take Tinslee off life support.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the appellate judges asked pointed questions about the law — the Texas Advance Directives Act — which hospitals can invoke when doctors believe a patient’s care is futile and causing harm.
While doctors have the right to deny care under common law, the act outlines a dispute-resolution process and protects the hospital from legal ramifications.
Joe Nixon, Tinslee and Lewis’ attorney, argued at the hearing that Lewis has the right to decide whether her daughter lives or dies, and the law is unconstitutional because it violates a patient’s right to life.
Nixon said allowing physicians to overpower a family’s decision grants “medical paternity over autonomy.”
“The moment we do this, we’re all in danger,” he said.
The attorney for Cook Children’s, Amy Warr, argued at the hearing that physicians have a right to decline care for a patient if that care “causes suffering without medical benefit.”
Warr emphasized a physician’s oath to “do no harm” and said that Lewis can decide that she wants Tinslee to remain on life support, but “we can decline to participate.”
Forcing physicians and nurses to continue caring for Tinslee when they believe treatment is morally wrong violates their own rights of conscience, Warr argued.
The hospital and Tinslee’s family have reached out to other medical facilities and physicians to take over Tinslee’s care since July, but each hospital has declined.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins argued to halt the Texas Advance Directives Act. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has released statements in support of the
Lewis family and argued the statute is unconstitutional.
After the hearing, Paxton sent out a press release in which he urged the court to “protect the life of this baby girl.”
“Life is the first constitutionally protected interest, and this case is a matter of life and death for a defenseless child,” Paxton said in the release. “This baby girl, like all Texans, must be afforded the rights she deserves.”
Anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops and eight other Texas groups filed a brief in support of Cook Children’s and the Texas Advance Directives Act on Tuesday.