Texas hospital removes brain-dead pregnant woman from life support
A Texas hospital today removed a brain-dead pregnant woman from life support and was expected to give the body to her family, attorneys for her husband said.
Marlise Muñoz, 33, had been on life support for about two months at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth after falling unconscious in her home in November with a possible blood clot in her lung.
Although she was brain-dead, the hospital refused to withdraw life-support measures, citing a Texas law that prohibits hospitals from suspending “life-sustaining treatment” for pregnant patients. Muñoz was about 14 weeks pregnant when she fell ill.
After her husband sued the hospital for “cruel and obscene mutilation” of a dead body, a state judge Friday ordered the hospital to take her off life support by Monday, and the hospital said it would comply.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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