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AUSTIN, Texas, March 14 (UPI) -- The mother of a critically ill boy is desperately seeking another hospital before doctors at Children's Hospital in Austin, Texas, remove his respirator.
Catarina Gonzales, 23, of Lockhart, Texas, wasn't ready to accept the physicians' assessment that continuing treatment of her 16-month-old son Emilio not only was hopeless but possibly painful, the Austin American-Statesman said Tuesday.
"It's really hard because you see your son moving and you see him opening his eyes," Gonzales said. "He's fighting. ... If I have to take him out of state, I will."
The Austin hospital on Friday gave her 10 days to find another hospital but an extensive search had failed and odds of a transfer were poor, the newspaper said. Her attorney, Jerri Ward, said she would be surprised if one could be found in Texas.
The child has Leigh's disease, which causes the central nervous system and muscles to degenerate. Doctors said the child's brain is shrinking and there's no hope of a reversal.
Gonzales told the America-Statesman she believes her son responds to her but doctors say he is comatose.
Texas law permits doctors to decide that treatment is "medically futile" if they believe it prolongs dying.
More later.
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