Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Court: Anencephalic babies alive Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 15:11:15 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD Court: Anencephalic babies alive \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT TALLAHASSEE, Fla. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Supreme Court yesterday upheld a lower court's ruling that prevented a baby born with much of her brain missing from being declared dead so that her organs could be used for transplants. The decision came in the Baby Theresa case, which attracted international attention this spring. The South Florida baby died nine days after she was born with only a brain stem, a condition called anencephaly. Before her inevitable death, her parents, saying they wanted her short life to have meaning, asked that she be declared dead so other children might live. Doctors said her organs became less and less viable as she neared death. A trial court denied their petition. The 4th District Court of Appeals upheld that decision and sent the case to the state's high court. "We find no basis to expand the common law to equate anencephaly with death," Justice Gerald Kogan wrote in the majority ruling yesterday. Although some babies might be saved by organs from anencephalics, there's not enough proof that such donations save lives, Justice Kogan wrote. The decision left in place the traditional definition of death, which is based on heart and lung activity. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM