Judge Approves Taking Infant Off Life Support

HOUSTON – The mother of an infant with an often lethal skeletal disorder won another temporary restraining order late Wednesday in her fight to keep a hospital from removing the boy from life support.

Earlier in the day, a judge had lifted the order, saying there was no reasonable chance another hospital would take over the care of the 4-month-old.

But an attorney for the boy’s mother, Wanda Hudson, appealed and the 1st Court of Appeals reinstated the order. A hearing was set for Tuesday.

"If they had given my client due process, a fair hearing, we would have had this over a long time ago," attorney Mario Caballero told the Houston Chronicle.

Texas Children’s Hospital officials have said no treatment can save the infant, and they wanted to remove him from life support. Hudson believes her son will recover and had fought to keep him on the ventilator he has used since birth.

The dispute centers on the legal standard over hospital care in Texas. Under state law, a hospital must continue care if there is a reasonable probability that another hospital will admit the patient.

The mother’s attorney argued there is a reasonable chance another hospital would take the infant. But hospital lawyers said state officials have contacted almost 40 facilities and none have been willing to care for Sun Hudson.

The hospital had set no timetable for when it planned to disconnect Sun from life support.

The infant suffers from thanatophoric dysplasia, a genetic condition characterized by extremely short limbs, a narrow chest, small ribs and underdeveloped lungs. Infants usually are stillborn or die shortly after birth from respiratory failure. There have been rare documented cases of survivors, however.

"He is slowly suffocating to death because his lungs lack the capability to support his body," the hospital said.

Sun’s mother appeared agitated in the courtroom earlier Wednesday and spoke to the judge for several minutes during the hearing.

"I was told what to do by Sun," she said. "I don’t understand all this legal stuff. But please give Sun time to allow Sun to create Sun."

Hudson has not seen her son in more than a month but believes she communicates with him telepathically.