Court agrees to keep Texas baby on life support

A Texas appeals court has delayed a judge’s ruling that allowed a Fort Worth hospital to remove life-sustaining treatment for an 11-month-old girl. The Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth on Friday ordered Cook Children’s Medical Center to keep Tinslee Lewis alive until it can make a final ruling in an appeal brought by Tinslee’s mother, Trinity Lewis. The court has not yet scheduled a hearing in the case. “This gives us so much hope for Tinslee,” said Kimberlyn Schwartz, a spokeswoman for Texas Right to Life, which has supported the Lewises. “This is a prayer answered.”

Who is Tinslee Lewis? She was born prematurely on Feb. 1 and has remained hospitalized with a rare heart defect, chronic lung disease, and severe high blood pressure. Tinslee stopped breathing in early July and has since required sedation, ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, in which a machine oxygenates the blood in place of her heart and lungs. Her mother said that despite her sedation, Tinslee smiles, stares, and squeezes her hand. Doctors do not think those actions are purposeful and said Tinslee is in constant pain and will never recover. But her mother said she wants to be the one to decide whether to remove her from life support.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s Vitals report about the legal and ethical ramifications of this case.