Fifteen-month-old Joseph Maraachli, known to the world as “Baby Joseph,” was transported from SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, where he received a tracheotomy last month, the Windsor Star reports. He arrived in Windsor, Ontario, Thursday morning.
The boy suffers from a rare, progressive neurological disease, which, Canadian doctors say, has left him in a vegetative state beyond recovery.
His parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, wanted the boy to undergo the tracheotomy so that he could spend his remaining days at home. London Health Sciences Center refused to perform the procedure, saying it had too many complication risks and would be too invasive, the Windsor Star reports.
Joseph’s parents appealed to the Canadian courts, but the courts sided with the hospital. The boy was then taken by Fr. Frank Pavone and other Priests of Life staff to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, where doctors agreed to treat him and eventually performed his tracheotomy.
“We wanted to ensure that Joseph was as comfortable and as secure as possible,” said Dr. Robert Wilmott, the chief of pediatrics at the hospital, calling the operation “a success.”
“By providing him with this common palliative procedure, we’ve given Joseph the chance to go home and be with his family after spending so much of his young life in the hospital,” Wilmott said in a statement released by Cardinal Glennon.
Priests of Life has covered all of the family’s medical bills while Joseph underwent treatment in the U.S. and will also cover the costs of Joseph’s flight home, the Windsor Star reports.
“Priests for Life is happy and humbled to have played a small part in making this joyous day possible. We ask everyone to join us as we continue to pray for Baby Joseph and his family,” Fr. Pavone said in a statement.
From The Windsor Star, Ontario.
WINDSOR, Ont. -- The Windsor infant at the centre of an international right-to-life debate is coming home Thursday after spending months in London and U.S. hospitals.
Baby Joseph Maraachli, who suffers from a progressive and terminal neurological disease, is scheduled to arrive in Windsor on a medical transport flight from St. Louis, Mo., where he underwent a tracheotomy last month.
The 15-month-old infant will first be taken to Windsor Regional Hospital for a checkup before he is cleared to go home.
Joseph’s parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, have been fighting to bring the baby home to die ever since doctors at London Health Sciences Centre determined he was in a persistent vegetative state and recommended he be taken off life support. LHSC refused to perform a tracheotomy on Joseph, saying it would be invasive and futile, with too many complication risks.
The parents disputed the medical experts’ findings, but an independent tribunal and the Superior Court sided with the London doctors. That’s when various pro-life and Christian groups began rallying around the family and offering to take Joseph to a U.S. hospital for a second opinion.
Eventually, American organization Priests for Life arranged for Joseph to be airlifted out of London to the faith-based SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis.
There, doctors performed a tracheotomy — cutting a hole in the throat to open a direct airway — to allow Joseph to spend his remaining days at home with family.
At the time, Cardinal Glennon said the hospital’s ethics committee concluded that a tracheotomy was “medically appropriate.”
Joseph’s sister Zina died from a similar condition nine years ago.
Priests for Life has been taking care of the family’s medical bills in the U.S. and also arranged today’s flight home.
Comments from Canadian citizens
Anonymous
10:15 AM on April 21, 2011
To those asking that this family have their privacy? Seriously? They are the ones that created the media circus in the first place - criticizing our health professionals and health care system. Now, they are running back into the arms of the very system they chose to criticize and demonize. Taxpayers will now take over the cost of home care, home nurses, ambulances, etc. just so these selfish parents can watch their baby die at home. Nice.
Anonymous
10:11 AM on April 21, 2011
I wonder how many non-terminal children could've been helped with the millions of dollars that were spent on a terminally ill one?
Anonymous
LHSC made the right decision. The family were the ones that made the wrong decision and cost a whole lot of money to the system. Now lies baby Joseph, who knows if he is in pain, just waiting to die. just to satisfy his parents selfishness. Shameful.
roman1
8:04 AM on April 21, 2011
ok,now what?
put him in bed and wait and watch
him die a slow and painfull death.
this is pathetic,these parents are so selfish
its sickening.
baby joe,i hope you go fast and dont feel any pain.
put him in bed and wait and watch
him die a slow and painfull death.
this is pathetic,these parents are so selfish
its sickening.
baby joe,i hope you go fast and dont feel any pain.
Anonymous
7:46 AM on April 21, 2011
I am very sorry but there is no miracle here. I hope that this family has the money to pay for their own medical expenses. I am angry that we have to pay for them to prolong their son's pain and suffering. Not one of you can say that he isn't in any pain because no one knows what he feeling. He shows no emotion, he doesn't move. He has no brain stem. Like every parent you hope for a miracle, there is no chance for that here. I hope when all is said and done that God takes him quickly so he can be at peace. I would never put my child through this it utter selfishness.
There a couple of positive comments
Anonymous
8:10 AM on April 21, 2011
All they wanted to do was bring their baby home to spend his last days. If LHSC had done the procedure in the first place this all could have been avoided.
Diane Ramirez
12:51 AM on April 21, 2011
My heart breaks for this family. It is wonderful to see so many people rally around to help them.
I pray God's peace and comfort.
I pray God's peace and comfort.
Windsor Star web Page. Check it out for yourself.
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