texas

Family of Girl, 9, on Life Support Granted Extension of TRO

A judge extended the original temporary restraining order, which expired Monday, until Oct. 22

A Tarrant County judge granted a one-week extension Monday night of the temporary restraining order filed by the parents of a 9-year-old girl on life support against Cook Children's Hospital.

KRLD reported Judge Melody Wilkinson issued her ruling around 7 p.m. after a day of hearing arguments from Payton Summons' family attorneys and the Fort Worth hospital.

The original TRO, filed earlier this month, expired at 1:20 p.m Monday. At 11:51 a.m., the family filed a request for two more weeks, until Oct. 29. Instead, the judge granted a one-week extension.

KRLD reported earlier Monday lawyers representing the girl's family and Cook Children's Hospital were negotiating an agreement to potentially give the family more time to find a facility to care for the 9-year-old girl.

Without the extension, doctors at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth could have removed the girl from life support.

Summons has been on life support for more than two weeks. The medical staff at the hospital determined Summons to be brain dead and argued that she should be removed from the ventilator.

Summons' parents, their attorneys and the Cook Children's Medical Center have tried more than 20 hospitals in an attempt to transfer their daughter to a different facility, but none would admit her in her current state.

A judge declined last week to grant a temporary injunction that would have extended a 14-day temporary restraining order beyond Monday.

"I am a mother of three," Wilkinson said  last week, as she looked at Payton's parents. "I know what it's like to do anything you can for your child, but the prosecution has not met their burden of proof."

The girl's mother and father both testified, and said they believed that Summons was fighting and could recover.

Summons' attending doctor also testified, saying that she meets the legal and medical definitions of brain dead, but has not been declared brain dead due to the temporary restraining order that prevented the hospital from doing a second test. 

An attorney for Summons' family was granted the temporary restraining order Monday, Oct. 1, which prevented the hospital staff from discontinuing life support that day, against the wishes of the child's family. It then extended her time on life support until Oct. 15.

Summons was rushed to Cook Children's 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 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, one of the attorneys who is representing Summons' family, said ultimately, the family wants a second opinion.

"There are a multitude of death tests. There are EEG's, MRI's and apnea tests. Payton is too fragile to survive the apnea tests, but she can take two other tests," Moore said.

Moore and his co-counsel Paul Stafford said ultimately, they hope this case will help bring about legislation to clarify the laws in unique cases like these. They say that would give parents, dealing with an impossible decision, more guidance.

NBC 5's Ben Russell, Chris Blake, Laura Harris and Frank Heinz contributed to this report.

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