What to Know
- Payton Summons, 9, has a tumor crushing her heart and lungs and that she went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing, doctors say
- Doctors were able to restart her heart after 60 minutes of CPR; tests showed child was brain dead
- Family attorney says the parents should have every right to extend their daughter’s life
A Grand Prairie family will be in a Tarrant County courtroom Friday morning quite literally fighting for their daughter’s life.
Payton Summons, 9, is on life support at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. The medical staff at the hospital has determined Summons to be brain dead and has argued that the child should be removed from the ventilator.
An attorney for Summons’ family was granted a temporary restraining order on Monday, Oct. 1, which prevented the hospital staff from discontinuing life support that day, against the wishes of the child’s family. Instead, a hearing has been set for 9:30 a.m. Friday in front of Judge Melody Wilkinson in Tarrant County’s 17th District Court.
Summons was rushed to Cook Children’s on Tuesday, Sept. 25 in cardiac arrest. Doctors would later discover that a cancerous tumor near Summons’ heart had cut off her circulation.
After approximately one hour of performing CPR, the medical staff was able to restart Summons’ heart. But they were unable to resuscitate the child’s breathing, and she has been on a ventilator ever since.
"As is standard practice, we conducted a brain death exam on Payton approximately 24 hours after she was admitted to our hospital," a spokesperson for Cook Children's said Monday in a written statement. "The results were conclusive and showed zero brain activity, confirming that Payton is brain dead ... Our hearts are with Payton's family and we will continue doing everything in our power to help them through this difficult time."
Justin Moore, the attorney who is representing Payton Summons’ family, has said the legal proceedings are necessary to allow the family time to find another medical facility willing to keep the child alive.
"It's the best news since everything happened," said Payton's mother, Tiffany Hofstetter, when Judge Wilkinson granted the temporary restraining order. "There was a huge weight taken off my shoulders and I actually felt like I could breathe."
In a statement, Moore noted that his clients should have every right to extend their daughter’s life.
"As is their right under the Texas Advance Directives Act, they should be provided the time and opportunity to find another facility that will allow for continued care of Payton while she slowly recovers,” Moore said. “They simply want to give their child a fighting chance. Far too often, we have seen medical facilities choose profits over care for patients. Payton’s predicament falls in line with this misguided, cold and callous practice of hospitals worried about overhead, instead of the natural lives of its patients. No young child should be treated like this."
