HOUSTON -- A critically ill baby at the center of a lengthy court battle died Tuesday shortly after being removed from life support at a Houston hosptal.
A judge in Houston on Monday lifted an injunction the mother had won that prevented doctors from halting the care they believed was futile.
Wanda Hudson unsuccessfully fought to continue the medical care for her 5-month-old son, Sun. The boy was diagnosed with a fatal genetic disorder that left him with a tiny chest and lungs that were too small to support life.
Texas Children's Hospital said it was "deeply saddened" to report that Sun Hudson died from the affects of a lethal and incurable genetic deformity.
"Texas Children's has made extraordinary efforts to provide the best possible care for Sun, as we do for all patients, and we are deeply saddened that no treatment can save this child. It would be unethical to continue with care that is futile and prolongs Sun's suffering," the hospital said in a statement Monday night.
Hudson said her son just needed time to grow and to be weaned off of the ventilator he was on since birth. She described the final moments of her baby's life.
"He opened his eyes while he was in my arms, before they took him off the ventilator. He smiled. He moved his tongue, actually his whole body. And I feel like they took him off too soon," she told KPRC-TV in Houston.
Hudson said she wants an autopsy to determine if her baby really had a fatal genetic disorder.
"This is murder. I am not sugar coating. It's murder," Hudson said. "I cried, and it wasn't because that they were moving him off the ventilator ... they are trying to tear down my trust in the sun above."
Texas law allows hospitals to end life support in cases such as Sun's but requires that families be given 10 days to find another facility to care for the patient. No hospital could be located to take the baby.
Texas Children's ethics committee reviewed Sun's case before recommending that life support be discontinued.
"This is the first case that I'm aware of where physicians acting under what we call a futility statute have had to defend themselves in court," said William Winslade, a bioethicist.
Winslade said in similar cases, families and doctors have always come to an agreement on their own, without the need of a legal ruling.
"These doctors have a license to kill," Hudson said. "They are not using their license properly."
She believes her child was conceived with the sun in the sky, which is why she named him Sun.
"No one was with me when I was alone on a cold, winter night being shown the beauty of the earth. I've never seen the moon and the stars the way the sun above showed the moon and the stars to me," Hudson said.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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