Judge gives mother only a week to keep her child in life support

“Plaintiffs are Christians with firm religious beliefs that as long as the heart is beating, Israel is alive," Snider said in court documents.”

The most heartbreaking thing about Jonee Fonseca’s situation isn’t even that her two-year-old son Israel had been proclaimed “brain dead.” The most heartbreaking thing about her situation is that she is only given one week before her son’s life support is cut off.

According to ABC News, U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento ruled in the case of the 2-year-old after two hospitals determined he is brain dead.

“Mueller rejected Jonee Fonseca’s request for a permanent court order requiring Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Roseville to keep her son on life support to give her ample time to find another facility for him,” the report said.

Even though two hospitals already declared Israel brain dead, his mother is not losing hope just yet. In fact she insists that Israel still responds to her touch, and even managed to capture it in film.

Jonee’s attorney, Kevin Snider, will be appealing the District Court Judge’s decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The decision of Judge Mueller was grounded on the following:

“While Ms. Fonseca’s maternal instincts and moral position are completely understandable, the concerns reviewed here suggest she is unlikely to obtain the relief she seeks.”

Meanwhile, the attorneys representing the hospital where Israel is confined are adamant that the two-year-old’s health will only continue to deteriorate, robbing him of the “dignity of death.”

“Our hearts go out to this family as they cope with the irreversible brain death of their son,” the hospital’s chief of staff, Dr. Chris Palkowski, said in a statement promising to follow the judge’s order.

Jonee’s attorney, in response, has this to say: “Plaintiffs are Christians with firm religious beliefs that as long as the heart is beating, Israel is alive,” Snider said in court documents.”

*Featured image only a representation of the story

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Written by

James Martinez

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