A pregnant woman that was diagnosed as brain dead last November was finally disconnected on Sunday from the artificial respirators that kept her alive after an intense legal dispute that caught the attention of U.S. media.
According to CNN, the Muñoz family's lawyers convinced a district judge to authorize the disconnection.
"May Marlise Muñoz finally rest in peace, and may her family find the strength to overcome what has been an unbearably hard and long road," said lawyers Heather King and Jessica Janicek shortly after Marlise was disconnected at 11:20 a.m. local time, according to CNN.
May Marlise Muñoz, 33, remained in a critical state since Nov. 26, 2013 in the intensive care unit of the John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, unconscious and connected to a respirator, despite saying in life that she did not wish to be artificially kept alive, and after suffering what her husband, Erick Muñoz, thinks was a pulmonary stroke.
According to Reuters, Erick Muñoz had tried to disconnect his wife since December. May Muñoz was 14 weeks into her pregnancy when the accident happened, but hospital authorities refused to disconnect her from life support, citing Texas law which forbids doctors from disconnecting brain-dead patients who are pregnant, even if they have a DNR ("Do Not Resuscitate") order.
A district judge ordered that Muñoz be removed from life support after the hospital acknowledged for the first time that Marlise had remained cerebrally dead and without possibility of improving since Nov. 28.
Watch the video by CNN.
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