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Illinois Federation

For Right to Life

Daily News

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Terri-Schiavo-Like Disabled Woman Allowed to Live after Parents Reconcile

 

A disabled woman's mother has reconciled with her ex-husband after having fought to remove her daughter's feeding tube, and after state legislation rescued the woman from death by dehydration. The woman’s mother now confesses that her daughter should be able to live.

 

Lauren Richardson suffered severe brain damage following a 2006 heroin overdose.  Richardson, who was pregnant at the time, was able to deliver a healthy baby girl in February 2007 while on life support.

 

Since then, Richardson has continued to require nourishment through a feeding tube.  While doctors claim Lauren is in a Permanent Vegetative State (PVS), her father contests that she is responsive to stimuli such as voice and touch, and not terminally ill.

 

Richardson's mother, Edith Towers, had argued that her daughter would have wanted her feeding tube removed in such a state.  In a seeming re-enactment of Terry Schiavo's fate, a court had awarded Towers custody of her daughter, following the advice of doctors who claimed Richardson would not recover. 

 

But Lauren's father, Randy Richardson, appealed the decision, and pursued legal intervention on Lauren's behalf while attracting media attention to her case.  In July, he won the battle for Lauren's life when the Delaware House of Representatives passed a resolution making it illegal to remove the feeding tube of a non-terminally ill person such as Richardson. 

 

"It is against the public policy of this State and this State's interest in life, health and safety, for hydration and nutrition that is not harming a patient to be involuntarily removed from a non-terminal, apparently brain-incapacitated patient if doing so will cause the individual's death," said the resolution, which also explicitly named Lauren's case as the impetus for the legislation.

 

Towers, however, continued to fight for permission to remove the feeding tube until September when, because of religious conviction and heartfelt interaction with her ex-husband’s family, she decided to join cooperatively with Richardson’s father to care for their daughter and to drop the court request.

 

“Everyone deserves a chance to recover. Life should be protected - not destroyed,” said Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Legal Counsel Matt Bowman about the case. “This change of heart and settlement has profoundly affected everyone involved. The miracle of life is not something that should be taken lightly.” 

 

Richardson's father teamed up with the ADF in January to convince judges to investigate Richardson's condition, which had been improperly placed in the PVS category - a diagnosis that has become increasingly undermined by the progress of medical science. 

 

Lauren Richardson wept emotionally when her mother informed her of the settlement and the reconciliation of her parents, confirming to the mother that her daughter is indeed aware and responsive. Both parents and their families continue to interact with her daily.

 

Contact: Kathleen Gilbert

Source: LifeSiteNews.com

Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com

Publish Date: November 20, 2008

Link to this article:

http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/081120_4.htm

 

 

The IFRL is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in Illinois. A non-profit organization, that serves as the state coordinating body for local pro-life chapters representing thousands of Illinois citizens working to restore respect for all human life in our society. The IFRL is composed of people of different political persuasions, various faiths and diverse economic, social and ethnic backgrounds. Since 1973 the Illinois Federation for Right to Life has been working to end abortion and restore legal protection to those members of the human family who are threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. Diverse though we are, we hold one common belief - that every human being has an inalienable right to life that is precious and must be protected. IFRL is dedicated to restoring the right to life to the unborn, and protection for the disabled and the elderly.   Click here to learn more about the IFRL.