Joseph Maraachli case

The Joseph Maraachli case refers to an ongoing international controversy over the life of Joseph Maraachli, also known as Baby Joseph, a 13-month old infant who suffers from a rare progressively deteriorating neurological condition which -by doctors opinion- has left him in an irreversible vegetative state. Maracchli's parents have been fighting to have him transferred to the United States for medical care.

History

Joseph Maracchli, the son of Lebanese immigrants, was born on January 22, 2010, and his parents say they noticed he couldn't eat or breathe properly and wouldn't open his eyes or cry. The family, who lives in Windsor, Ontario on the Canada – United States border near Michigan, took him to a Michigan hospital in June 2010, where he was diagnosed with a metabolic brain disease, which the doctor said would make him developmentally delayed. Maracchli was treated and returned to normal after a month. However, in October 2010 he developed a fever and was breathing rapidly and was rushed to the emergency room and later transferred to the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario.

The hospital said he was in a persistent vegetative state from which he would never recover. The parents dispute this, saying the baby has responded to being tickled and has jostled when he felt discomfort. On February 17, 2011, the hospital decided he should be removed from life support and gave the family four days to consent, but they refused and requested a transfer to the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. The children's hospital initially accepted the request, but later emailed Maracchli's father denying the request. A Canadian Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Canadian hospital, ordering the life support removed. The family has filed an appeal to Ontario's highest court. Maracchli's family is seeking a second opinion and if Joseph is indeed beyond hope, they want a tracheotomy so that they can take him home and he can die in the care of his family instead of a hospital.

Various pro-life organizations such as the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, Priests for Life, and the American Center for Law and Justice, among others, began helping family and began negotiating in March 2011 with hospitals around the United States to have Joseph transferred. Priests for Life announced it had secured a jet which is standing by to immediately fly the family to any American hospital willing to care for Joseph.

The family hired a new lawyer on March 8, 2011. The lawyer said he expects the hospital will keep Joseph alive while the appeal is pending, a process expected to take two to three months.

Transfer to the United States

On March 14, 2011, Priests for Life announced it had secured a transfer to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, a non-profit Catholic hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, declaring victory in the "battle against the medical bureaucracy in Canada." Priests for Life also announced it would pay for Joseph's medical care at Cardinal Glennon. The intensive care costs would be approximately $150,000. An urgent appeal for donations was made.

Priests for Life claimed hospital officials were happy that Joseph was breathing mostly on his own but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that "Cardinal Glennon officials said they were 'puzzled' by those claims and said Joseph remained on a ventilator."

Cardinal Glennon's official spokesperson announced Joseph would be evaluated by a number of medical specialists and that a news conference would be held on Tuesday March 15 to explain their treatment plan. However on Monday March 14, within hours of the transfer, the accepting physician, pulmonologist Dr. Robert Wilmott, examined Joseph, unexpectedly canceled the news conference for the next day and instead stated that a tracheotomy would in fact be done by the end of the week. His long-term plan was to have Joseph transferred to a nursing facility in Michigan - close to the Maraachlis' home in Windsor, Ontario.

On March 21, 2011, doctors performed a tracheotomy on Joseph. He was expected to remain in the hospital for seven to ten days, then be transferred to a St. Louis pediatric specialty hospital, then be sent home with his family.

Joseph was baptized the week of the tracheotomy.

Diagnosis

Doctors at the SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center believe Joseph suffers from Leigh's disease, a rare neurometabolic disorder which causes the degeneration of the central nervous system. The disease is usually inherited, but no genetic link for Joseph was found after his parents were tested.

Impact

The case draws many parallels to the Terri Schiavo case, where a court ordered life support removed from a woman in a vegetative state, in compliance with the consent authorized by her husband, despite protests from her parents. The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, a foundation founded by Schiavo's family, has gotten involved in the case. International pro-lifers have rallied behind the family, holding events, donating money, and offering legal support.