• Judge
ordered move on Friday
• Marlise
Munoz brain-dead for two months
Erick Munoz stands with a photograph of himself with wife Marlise and their son Mateo. Photograph: Ron T Ennis/AP |
The family
of a brain-dead, pregnant Texas woman said on Sunday that she had been removed
from life support, following a judge's ruling that a Fort Worth hospital was
misapplying state law in the case.
A statement
sent by lawyers for the husband of Marlise Munoz on Sunday afternoon said she
was disconnected from life support at about 11.30am CST (1.30pm ET). It said
her body was released to her husband, Erick Munoz, and that the family is now
looking to lay her to rest.
Earlier in
the day, the John Peter Smith Hospital had said it would follow a judge's order
to remove life support. In an order issued on Friday, Judge RH Wallace gave the
hospital until Monday at 5pm to comply with his ruling.
Marlise Munoz,
33, was 14-weeks pregnant when her husband found her unconscious on 26
November, possibly due to a blood clot. Munoz was kept on life support because
the hospital claimed it would be illegal under Texas law to withdraw treatment,
since the fetus would die as a result. In court documents released on Friday,
the hospital accepted that the fetus was not viable.
The
hospital had based its case on a line in the Texas Advance Directives Act of
1999 which states that "a person may not withdraw or withhold life-sustaining
treatment … from a pregnant patient". Wallace, a district judge , ruled
that the hospital had misapplied the statute. "Mrs Munoz is dead," he
said.
On Sunday,
the hospital said in a statement that it saw its role as "not to make nor
contest law but to follow it".
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