NEWS: Court: Brain-Damaged Baby to Stay on Life Support, page 1

posted on Dec, 30 2004 @ 12:54 PM

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A baby whose father is accused of abusing him cannot be taken off life support against the parents wishes the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today. At issue is whether a court appointed guardian can make the decision regarding the fate of one year old Aiden Stein. Aiden suffers from shaken baby syndrome and is blind, death, and unaware of his surroundings. The father has yet to be charged and denies he harmed the boy.

story.news.yahoo.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A brain-damaged baby whose father is accused of abuse cannot be removed from life support because the father and mother's parental rights have not been terminated, the state's highest court said Thursday.
A court-appointed medical guardian does not have authority to make the life and death decision, the Ohio Supreme Court said.

The divided court ruled in the case of 1-year-old Aiden Stein of Mansfield, who was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome and remains at Akron Children's Hospital.
"A probate court has no authority to allow a guardian to make a decision that will terminate the life of a child, when parental rights have not been permanently terminated," Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton wrote.

Matthew Stein is suspected of injuring his son March 15 and could be charged with murder if the baby dies, police said. No charges have been filed and Stein has denied harming the boy.

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Im not really sure why this has come up at all. Unless both parents are charged, they should still maintain some degree of custody. Now that being said, shaken baby is almost universally caused by abuse. SO either the mother is covering for dad, or there is a third party involved. Now the other reason, I in my 10 years in pediatrics I have seen this: the dad may be trying to keep him alive so he does not have to take a murder charge.

jsobecky

posted on Dec, 30 2004 @ 06:50 PM

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Im not really sure why this has come up at all.

I just heard about this case on NPR news in my car. Short report, but they made note of the fact that the father faces murder charges if the baby dies.

Which brings up a sticky point - if the state knows that removing the life support system will result in the baby's death, then...

JediMaster

posted on Dec, 30 2004 @ 08:39 PM

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Yeah shaken baby syndrome is 99.9% caused by abuse, and 99.9% it is one of the parents usually the father. I highly doubt a third party is involved unless it was a babysiter or sibling, I highly doubt that another family member would do it/have the opportunity. This being said, they should investigate, find the cause of it and wait to see if the poor child dies.

Taking it off life support before the someone is charged is illogical, if someone did it they will probally not be charged with murder since the state took the baby off of life control, therefore me thinks that is why the parents are denying/covering up.