The family of the child who was to be extubated, by order of the Superior Court, will appeal their case. Sainte-Justine Hospital will therefore have to wait before removing the endotracheal tube from the 5-year-old boy who came close to drowning in the family pool last June.
Posted at 2:19 p.m.
The hospital went to court in early September because parents objected to doctors’ proposed treatment plan, reports The Press last week. These claim that the breathing tube is contraindicated in the situation of the child who has spent between 15 and 20 minutes under water. Mechanical ventilation is “unnecessary to improve his neurological condition, it is likely to cause serious damage, even fatal”, they argue.
However, the family would like the child to be reintubated if extubation fails. This “trial” would make it possible to understand why the maneuver did not work and “would maximize the chances of success of a subsequent extubation”, argued their lawyer Me Patrick Martin-Ménard before the Court.
In his defence, the father, who is of Protestant profession, also maintained that he “feels that [son fils] will be the first case to experience a full recovery and that he can return to his basic state”.
1er November, Judge Bernard Jolin authorized the Sainte-Justine doctors to proceed with the treatment plan, which includes extubation. The family appealed the case on Monday.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Me Patrick Martin-Ménard, lawyer for the boy’s parents
“In the context of such an important decision, a decision that may affect the life of the child, it is believed that the trial judge made errors of law and errors of fact. We are therefore going to submit this to the Court of Appeal for it to revise the judgment, ”said Mr.e Martin-Ménard, however refusing to spread his arguments in the public square for the moment.
“The parents continue to spend as much time as possible by their son’s bedside and looking after him. They are anticipating the next steps in this process,” he added of his clients.
The child has been in a deep coma since June 12. There are signs that he can breathe on his own, but he will remain unconscious even if the extubation is successful, doctors say. The patient will have “no thoughts, no hearing, no vision, no intentional movements, [il sera] dependent for all aspects of daily life”, explained a doctor consulted to issue a second opinion.
The case will be heard within a few weeks.