Parents oppose end of care for brain-dead son

**wild_angel_1980** · November 10th, 2008, 01:34 PM

NEW YORK - A Washington hospital has asked a judge for permission to stop treating a brain-dead 12-year-old cancer patient, even though his ultra-religious New York parents want to keep him on life support.

Motl Brody of Brooklyn was pronounced dead this week after a half-year fight against a brain tumor, and doctors at Children's National Medical Center in Washington say the seventh-grader's brain has ceased functioning entirely.

But for the past few days, a machine has continued to inflate and deflate his lungs. As of late Friday afternoon, his heart was still beating with the help of a cocktail of intravenous drugs and adrenaline.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27611868/

His parents consider him to still be alive because his lungs and heart is still functioning.

Call me whatever you may but that child is dead. His heart wont beat on it's own and his lungs wont inflate and deflate on their own.

What do y'all think? Will New York side with the hospital and doctors or with the religious beliefs of the parents?

**Sister Iroz** · November 10th, 2008, 01:38 PM

On this one I hope New York sides with the hospital. The only reason why this boy is alive is because of life support measures. This boy would not live if taken off this machine and I feel the parents are being selfish and need to let him go. I would not want to be living off a machine.......that's not living!

**Athena** · November 10th, 2008, 01:52 PM

I do hope the courts side with the hospitals. That child may very well be occupying a spot in that hospital a living child requires. While I sympathize with the grief of these parents, their reaction to this situation is sheer lunacy, and it is detracting resources from the hospital.

**Lizard** · November 10th, 2008, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by Special2bme

I would not want to be living off a machine.......that's not living!

In some ways, it seems cruel. The boy is brain dead. Forcing air into and out of his lungs and what-not...he's just a sack of meat right now. How on earth could anyone see that as somehow honoring a child?

**Peeperann** · November 10th, 2008, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by Lizard

In some ways, it seems cruel. The boy is brain dead. Forcing air into and out of his lungs and what-not...he's just a sack of meat right now.

Exactly Lizard. I empathize with the parents but he's dead. Mourn, grieve, get angry, but give him a proper burial and let him go.

**CPL CHUD** · November 10th, 2008, 04:24 PM

Medicine and science shouldn't conform to religious views about health.

**moonlilly1981** · November 10th, 2008, 06:20 PM

the case is in DC at childrens hospital. The parents havent seen him in almost two years. Thats why the hospital wants to take him off the machines. They need to let him go in peace now.

**Dark Star** · November 10th, 2008, 06:37 PM

IMO take the child off the machines. Donate the organs that are healthy and let this child live in someone else, who needs the organ. Damn, this is sad. I cannot imagine losing my child, but I couldn't do this to them for my own selfishness of not wanting to let go. Extremely sad situation.

**brokenandtwisted** · November 10th, 2008, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by CPL CHUD

Medicine and science shouldn't conform to religious views about health.

Pretty much.

People really need to learn how to let go.

**Gidget** · November 10th, 2008, 08:13 PM

Motl's mother and father, Eluzer and Miriam Brody, haven't been to the hospital since July. The medical center says its requests to speak directly with them have been rebuffed, and in recent days, hospital employees "have been inundated with harassing and threatening calls" regarding the case.

So they want their child kept on life support, citing religous reasons, but they won't actually go see their kid that they want to stay on life support, and they won't actually talk to their kid's doctor.

The article says they're Orthodox Jews. Well, at least it's not Christians in the news for once.

If anyone's offended by the Jewish smiley ... I found it in the smiley list.

**Silvahalo** · November 11th, 2008, 12:41 AM

Very, very sad. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would be to let go of my boy...uugh, I hope I never have to know.

I absolutely agree this dear child is dead. The parents must in every sense of decency let their son go and be at peace. His soul is fighting to be released and that in it self is torturing him. I could never follow religious beliefs that would keep my child hooked-up to machines...that is NOT life, that is selfish on the parents part.

Give him a proper burial and then work on letting go...because letting go is not just unhooking the machines...I so empathize with this family.

**wild_angel_1980** · November 17th, 2008, 11:05 AM

The 12-year-old had been diagnosed with severe brain cancer
updated 6:32 p.m. ET, Sun., Nov. 16, 2008
NEW YORK - A 12-year-old New York City boy whose family battled a Washington hospital over his care has died in the hospital, the family's lawyer said Sunday.

Motl Brody was pronounced dead Nov. 4 by Children's National Medical Center in Washington, but a machine continued to inflate and deflate his lungs.

His remaining bodily functions ceased Saturday, the lawyer, Jeffrey Zuckerman, said.

"He passed away early Saturday," Zuckerman said.

He said the funeral was Sunday in the borough of Brooklyn.

Yeah those parents wanted him kept "alive" so badly yet they plunked his ass in the ground the next day.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27754982/

Rest in peace buddy. Now you can be free.

**DarkPrincess** · November 17th, 2008, 11:12 AM

It's easy to say they should let the kid go because it's not your kid. When you're in the situation it's not that easy, religious reasons aside. Either way it doesn't matter now. I hope he's at peace.

**Maggie Mae** · November 17th, 2008, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by DarkPrincess

It's easy to say they should let the kid go because it's not your kid. When you're in the situation it's not that easy, religious reasons aside. Either way it doesn't matter now. I hope he's at peace.

DP, the issue for me was that they wanted to keep him alive, but hadn't visited him for months.

**Mare** · November 17th, 2008, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by wild_angel_1980

Yeah those parents wanted him kept "alive" so badly yet they plunked his ass in the ground the next day.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27754982/

Rest in peace buddy. Now you can be free.

That's because interment takes place as soon as possible after death in Jewish faith. If possible, within 24 hours of death. There is no viewing and no embalming.

**DarkPrincess** · November 17th, 2008, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Maggie Mae

DP, the issue for me was that they wanted to keep him alive, but hadn't visited him for months.

Sometimes it's hard for people to see someone they love like that. I saw my grandfather hooked up to machines and it was a jarring experience.

**Maggie Mae** · November 17th, 2008, 12:37 PM

That's just not a good enough excuse for me. He was their CHILD, one they wanted to keep hooked up to machines to keep him alive for the foreseeable future. Would they have just left him lying there without anyone but the nurses to be with him? I can understand visiting less as time went by but we're talking about months here, not a few days.

**Silvahalo** · November 17th, 2008, 07:56 PM

Rest in peace Motl Brody...be at peace, finally.

**malq** · November 17th, 2008, 08:59 PM

I know this one well
We pulled the plug on my brother in 81 after a car wreck. We had the option of keeping the body funtioning even though he was braindead.
People are not alive at this point, they are a machine with no hope for brain recovery. It's not fair to them or us to keep the blood pumping.
no sympathies please.

**Morticia** · November 17th, 2008, 09:00 PM

Very difficult choice for any family, more so when a child is involved. Just heartbreaking from all angles.

**Peeperann** · November 17th, 2008, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by silvahalo68

Very, very sad. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would be to let go of my boy...uugh, I hope I never have to know.

I absolutely agree this dear child is dead. The parents must in every sense of decency let their son go and be at peace. His soul is fighting to be released and that in it self is torturing him. I could never follow religious beliefs that would keep my child hooked-up to machines...that is NOT life, that is selfish on the parents part.

Give him a proper burial and then work on letting go...because letting go is not just unhooking the machines...I so empathize with this family.

Being a Baptist Christian, I can tell you that keeping the body alive with machines means the person is dead. The soul has gone on to wherever it may go depending on age and if they were saved or not.

I don't know much about Judaism, so i'm not sure how they feel about that. But this is horrific not just for his family, but for the people who have to care for him. Don't most hospitals send them to long term care facility's when something like this happens and there is no hope?

**crickett** · November 20th, 2008, 12:10 PM

RIP little one. May your parents come to grips with your death....

**queenpunkr** · November 20th, 2008, 12:30 PM

I'm not jewish but in my personal opinion, if in the jewish faith they want the body intered asap etc. they would not want to artifically keep his body functioning, and to not visit or take calls from the doc...seems a little skewed in my opinion. Any jewish dd's feel free to correct me but where is it written that if someone is in this particular situation, they should be kept that way? Sounds like religon was being used as a scapegoat in this one to me. Not that it matters now (RIP little one) but does anyone know if the parents would be recieving a check while the child was still on life support? I'm not trying to offend anyone here just personal curiosity..

**Dakota Valkyrie** · November 20th, 2008, 01:24 PM

I'm not Jewish, but from reading the article, I gather that the Hasidic Jews believe that you are not dead until your heart and lungs stop (not your brain). Until then, they are religiously obligated to do everything human and medically possible to sustain life. As long as the medical treatments created a heartbeat, they beleived it should continue.

Somehow I couldn't do this. Especially since the article says "brain stem shows no electrical function, and his brain tissue has begun to decompose."

As for a check, I don't know but given that Hasidic Jews are probably the most hard-core religious of the Jewish sects, their religion probably played the greatest part.

**queenpunkr** · November 20th, 2008, 02:18 PM

[QUOTE=Dakota_Valkyrie;92837]I'm not Jewish, but from reading the article, I gather that the Hasidic Jews believe that you are not dead until your heart and lungs stop (not your brain). Until then, they are religiously obligated to do everything human and medically possible to sustain life. As long as the medical treatments created a heartbeat, they beleived it should continue.

If the child had not been on the machines his heartbeat and lungs would have already stopped right? Technically then wouldnt hooking them up to a machine be just the oppisite?
Guess I'll never really understand religion...

**Dakota Valkyrie** · November 20th, 2008, 02:42 PM

No they believe that everything medically possible should be done. This included the machine for the lungs and the drugs for the heart. only when the drugs no longer worked did they consider him gone. (I would have stopped at decomposing brain)