Florida Family being pressured to pull plug on 2-year-old mistakenly declared brain dead

by Ben Johnson

OCOEE, FLORIDA, January 2, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As other families are wrapping up their Christmas celebrations, a Florida family is fighting for the life of a two-year-old girl initially reported brain dead. See news report.

On December 26, two-year-old Kaylen Torres was playing on the floor of her home in Ocoee, Florida, just outside Orlando, as her adult cousin put away a loaded gun in the next room. The .22-caliber pistol misfired, and the bullet traveled through the wall, striking Kaylen in the head.

One day later, police held a press conference to announce that doctors at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children had pronounced her dead at 12:30 p.m.  Bay News 9 also reported that the Ocoee police statement said, “the hospital was maintaining her body in a status to keep the organs viable while the family made deeply personal decisions concerning possible organ donations.”

The child’s family immediately protested the announcements of their child’s brain death. They said Kaylen showed signs of life, moving when tickled and responding to family members. Christine Aguirre, a family friend, said the infant also squeezes their hands and responds when they ask if she wants her teddy bear. Vanessa Sanchez, the child’s aunt, said, “We’re seeing things that - wow, there could be a miracle.”

Sanchez said doctors have apologized for their diagnosis. “They told her [mother] she was seeing signs of brain activity,” Sanchez claimed.

“This story once again shows us how the concept of brain death is fraught with problems,” Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, wrote in a statement to LifeSiteNews.com. “The tests that are normally done to confirm a diagnosis of brain death usually only prove whether or not that person is responsive.”

Doctors have since confirmed the little girl is still alive, but in critical condition. 

“The story of Kaylen Torres shows us that it is important not to give up on people with cognitive (brain) injuries quickly,” Schadenberg wrote. “Many times a person is given-up-for dead, when in fact the person is seriously injured.” He added Kaylen’s youthful resilience improves her chances for neurological recovery.

But local police still insist they did not make a mistake in announcing the girl’s death. Ocoee Lt. Ted Silberstein told the Orlando Sentinel, “The Ocoee Police Department did not make an error. The Ocoee Police Department stands by what was stated in the media release.”

Despite their apology for mistakenly declaring Kaylen to have died, doctors at Arnold Palmer hospital maintain Kaylen has no chance for recovery and are advising the family to end life support services.

Kaylen’s mother, Yennesia Farias, told a local television station through a translator, “I have faith and hope my daughter will live. I tell her I am with her, don’t be afraid.” Yvette Seranno, another aunt, said “the hospital is asking her to take the baby off of life support, but she’s not giving up.”

Schadenberg said the doctors may be basing their recommendation on the “futile care theory,” which holds “if a person will not recover to a certain level, that that person’s life is not worth living and the cost of care will exceed the expected outcome.” But Dr. Todd Husty, a physician in the Orlando area, has said, “I don’t know a doctor in the world who would make a decision on this little girl’s life based on finances.”

Husty said the reactions are a spinal reflex and do not indicate brain activity.

Under Florida law, doctors may remove a patient from life support if the treating physician and a specialist declare the entire brain and brain stem show no activity and the damage is irreversible.
Schadenberg believes society should not make judgments about who deserves to live or die. “Kaylen’s life is valuable to her family and to society, whether she recovers fully or partially or not,” he wrote. “To suggest otherwise leads to a judgment concerning whose life is worth living and who should simply die. This is the mentality that drives the euthanasia lobby.”

Sanchez has expressed the family’s resolve to keep Kaylen alive. “She’s only two years old. We don’t want to give up.”

It was also in Florida where cognitively disabled Terry Schiavo was killed by doctors who, with the approval of her husband, but against intense opposition from her parents and other family members, removed her water and nutrition because of a diagnosis that she was in a persistent vegetative state.