Last Thursday afternoon, a 2-year-old boy named Israel Stinson was removed from life support at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles without consent from his parents Jonee Fonseca and Nathaniel Stinson, PEOPLE reports.
The hospital requested from a judge to remove Israel from a breathing ventilator, to which he agreed, according to the Los Angeles Times. The parents are “devastated”, says their attorney Alexandra Snyder with the Life Legal Defense Foundation, a pro-life group representing the family’s pro bono.
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Snyder described the horrific day,”I was on the phone with his mother when the doctors disconnected him. They were in such a hurry to do it, they didn’t even sit down and explain what was going on.”
When The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles was asked for a comment they did not immediately respond.
Israel had only been on life support since around April after he suffered a heart attack in Sacramento, California, the Washington Post reports. Doctors were only able to restart his heart, and since he was without oxygen for about an hour he went brain dead. They advised Isarael’s parents that they should take him off of life support, but the parents refused and had to take their case to court in an attempt to save his life.
So why on earth would a hospital purposefully circumvent the parents? Apparently the cost of providing intensive care for children is very expensive and labor intensive. It eats up time and resources from hospitals who say they could be focusing their attention on the other critically ill children, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In a desperate attempt to help his condition early on, Israel’s parents started a GoFundMe page to raise money for his recovery believing “God is telling me not to let go.” They also posted a video on YouTube back in April when the incident occurred asking for anyone’s help.
“We are reaching out, hoping that anyone hospital right now is willing to take us in … so that we can get him to in-home care and take care of him at home.”
However, a federal judge rejected the family’s lawsuit in May. Fonseca and Stinson had no choice but to look for other solutions, so they headed to Guatemala to get proof that Israel still had brain activity, CBS reports. It was only then that the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles agreed to bring him on as a patient, however, shortly after they ended his life.
The family’s lawyer is baffled, “why the hospital would have agreed to take him for the sole reason of putting him to death,” Snyder said. “They knew his condition when he came to the hospital.”
Last week there was a temporary order issued to stop the removal of the ventilator so the family could get another doctor’s opinion, but by Thursday, the judge gave the hospital the ok to end his life.
The family had recently expressed hope and optimism in his condition on their GoFundMe page. The family was also in the process of planning at-home care for Israel.
“We are so happy to inform you all that we are now back home in America with Israel,” the family said. “After almost 3 months of staying in Guatemala, Israel’s condition has progressed and we are so happy that he has 2 EEG’s that prove his brain is not ‘dead’ and that there is still activity.”
In shock, Snyder said “They are devastated,” she said. “I think still in shock. It’s not even my child; I am still in shock this could happen so quickly. … That is something every family has to decide for themselves, not a choice that should be imposed upon somebody.”
Originally appeared on Womanista
