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RICHMOND, Virginia, June 8, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The family of a Virginia toddler has more time to seek another hospital for their child after a judge’s ruling last Tuesday that she cannot be removed from life support for 10 days, which will run out Friday.

Patrick and Alison Lawson are in a dispute with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System over performing a brain apnea test on their two-year-old daughter Mirranda Grace and withdrawing her life support, in another case involving the legal definition of brain death.

The family believes she is still alive, that she has shown some responsiveness, and they want to keep her on life support while they look for another facility to take her.

The little girl had choked on a piece of popcorn May 11 and went into cardiac arrest.

After VCU doctors said Mirranda Lawson was unresponsive and showed no signs of brain stem function, a judge rescinded an emergency injunction keeping her on life support last month, but Patrick Lawson still refused to allow the tests.

Part of the apnea test entails removing the child’s life support to see if she will breathe on her own, which the Lawsons contend would be harmful to her.

The judge continued the case for another 10 days at last Tuesday’s hearing, the family’s attorney told LifeSiteNews, during which time the hospital may not perform the apnea brain death test and must continue to provide life-sustaining treatments.

Phillip Menke said Mirranda is not currently deteriorating and her blood pressure has actually improved, and therefore the main argument in last Tuesday’s hearing was for more time to allow the child to heal, and to ask the court to order the hospital to provide thyroid and other treatments recommended by specialist Doctor Paul Byrne.

“Barring that,” Menke said, “we asked the court to follow state law and provide the family a reasonable amount of time to seek a transfer to another physician.”

Byrne, of the Life Guardian Foundation, has been brought in as a specialist in other cases of disputed brain death, including Jahi McMath and Israel Stinson.

Thirteen-year-old Jahi McMath was declared brain dead by an Oakland, CA, hospital in 2013, but later showed responsiveness and has continued to receive long term care after being moved to another facility.   

Israel Stinson’s family recently fought with a Sacramento-area hospital for weeks to keep the two-year-old on life support after doctors there declared him brain dead, the toddler reportedly exhibiting responsiveness as well. He has been moved to a hospital in an undisclosed location outside the United States for interim care until a long-term facility can be secured.

While Menke had filed an affidavit from Byrne with the court in the Lawsons’ case, the judge also ruled that it would not be admitted into evidence since Byrne was not present in court to be cross-examined.

Menke said he had argued that the apnea brain death test itself was harmful and if it were performed on Mirranda, she would suffer irreparable harm.

He said the hospital’s physician confirmed in court that during the test, Mirranda would be taken off the respirator for around 8-10 minutes, but even up to 15 minutes.

She would be given extra oxygen at the beginning of the test, but Menke said the danger is that if she does not breathe on her own, and the doctor believes she will not, then she will not exhale carbon dioxide.

“So the carbon dioxide would build up in her blood, causing acidosis, and increased swelling in the brain, and likely more brain damage,” he said. “The build up of carbon dioxide is a ‘requirement’ of the test that they measure.”

He added that Mirranda's parents believe that the hospital could have been doing more, such as providing thyroid treatments, addressing her adrenal function with steroids and giving her better nutrition, and if they had provided these treatments from the beginning, then she would have a better chance to recover.

Still, the hospital is unwilling to do any additional treatments.

Menke told LifeSiteNews there are questions as to why VCU had not given Mirranda Lawson thyroid treatments to give her the best chance to pass the apnea brain death test, as her hypothyroidism is due to her brain injury, which the hospital acknowledged. This is further at issue because the hospital’s own guidelines require that metabolic disturbances such as hypothyroidism should be treated and corrected before proceeding with apnea brain death testing.

The physician had responded that neither a hypothyroidism screen nor treatment was part of the hospital’s “standard of care,” according to Menke, the physician saying this was because the thyroid treatments are difficult to get, carry some risk, and ultimately the hospital maintains it is unnecessary because they believe Mirranda is already brain dead.

The court-appointed guardian ad litem for Mirranda had concurred with Menke on delaying the apnea brain death test, Menke told LifeSiteNews, making the recommendation to the court for it not to be performed right now.

While last Tuesday’s ruling gave the Lawsons more time to look for another facility for their daughter, Menke said the judge refused to order the hospital to provide any treatments other than it had been doing.

“We are now going to try to locate another hospital and physician willing to accept a transfer of Mirranda and do the thyroid and other treatments recommended by Doctor Byrne,” Menke stated. “Four local hospitals in the area, including one Catholic hospital, Bon Secours St. Mary's, have stated they would do the same thing as the current hospital.”

He also hopes the Lawsons’ case will prompt a closer look at the apnea assessment performed to determine brain death. 

“There have been numerous medical articles written in the past 10 years that argue that more studies need to be done to see if the apnea brain death test is safe and appropriate,” Menke said. “Hopefully the medical community will take a closer look at this.”

Menke’s law firm is taking information on any other potential facilities for Mirranda Lawson’s transfer at 703.368.9196.

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