Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton filed court documents Friday to support a Fort Worth family in the midst of a court battle to keep an 11-month-old girl on life support.
Abbott and Paxton filed the friend-of-the-court brief in court that supports a family's wish to grant temporary injunction to keep her on life support until the case is resolved.
Trinity Lewis, baby Tinslee's mother, has been awaiting a court decision as Cook Children's Medical Center planned to end the baby's life support after no other medical provider could be found. Doctors at Cook Children's in Fort Worth insist Tinslee is in pain and will never recover.
Texas' Second Court of Appeals said in early January that the hospital can't remove Tinslee from life support until the court makes a final ruling in the case. A Tarrant County judge denied the mother's request to issue an injunction in the case.
Trinity said last week that she is praying for someone to give her daughter a second chance and doesn't believe her daughter is suffering.
"This situation takes away my job as a mother and lets other people who don't even know her decide whether her life is worth living," Trinity said.
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Tinslee has been at Cook Children's since her premature birth. The hospital has said she has a rare heart defect and suffers from chronic lung disease and severe chronic high blood pressure. The hospital has said she has been on a ventilator since going into respiratory arrest in early July and requires full respiratory and cardiac support, deep sedation and to be medically paralyzed.
Baby Tinslee has a tooth coming in and will turn a year old in February, according to the family.
“Life is the first and ultimate constitutionally protected interest, and this case is certainly a matter of life or death,” said Attorney General Paxton. “This baby girl, like all Texans, has the rights to life and due process. Patients must be heard and justly represented when determining their own medical treatment, especially when their life is in danger. My office will use all necessary resources to ensure that this baby and all Texans are afforded the rights they deserve.”
