#BabyJoseph and the #endoflife debate goes online
(CBS/What's Trending) After a long battle to keep the terminally ill child alive, Joseph Maraachli, known to the public as Baby Joseph, has finally gone home to Canada. The 15-month-old boy received a tracheotomy from the Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis, Mo. in what advocates online have called an "Easter miracle."
"Joseph has been breathing on his own, without the aid of a mechanical ventilator, for more than a week," Dr. Robert Wilmott, Chief of Pediatrics for SSM Cardinal Glennon and Saint Louis University School of Medicine said in the press release, which was shared by thousands on Twitter. "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." Baby Joseph became the center of the end of life debate when his parents Moe and Nader Maraachli refused to accept a Canadian court mandated order to turn off life support for the child. The boy suffers from Leigh Syndrome, a neurological disease that affects the central nervous system leaving the afflicted in a permanent vegetative state. His parents wanted the extra time to get a second opinion from another expert, and if the case was hopeless, they wanted to give the boy a tracheotomy so he could die at home. London Health Sciences Center doctors who were caring for the child at the time said the procedure would prolong his suffering and may cause too many complications. The case went up to the Canadian supreme court, where the judge ruled the breathing tube must be removed.The family began to appeal online through their official Facebookpage, and soon after an online campaign fueled by the pro-life community started to preserve the life of the child.
Facebook pages made by people not related to Baby Joseph including "Save Baby Joseph," which has over 15,000 members, and other similar pages popped up to encourage people to donate money and resources to the cause. Websites like Donations For Baby Joseph Maraachli and Luv4Joseph were started not by official family members, but by people who believed in the pro-life cause. Websites like Life Site News reported on the story and supplied information to official media publications.
On March 21, Priests For Life, a non-profit organization, offered to pay for Baby Joseph's medical costs so the boy could receive the tracheotomy in St. Louis, outside Canada's jurisdiction. The cost of the jet to the hospital was donated as well. Today, one month after the procedure, Baby Joseph was breathing on his own and sent home to Canada.
"I would call this a success," Rev. Frank Pavone of New York City-based Priests for Life said to ABC News. "We did this based on the value of the child's life here and now, not based on any specific medical outcomes. The family wasn't looking for anything extraordinary, just to be able to have him at home."
