The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is considering a case, argued before it yesterday, that raises some important end-of-life issues. But the court is unlikely to directly address those issues because of the tragic family situation surrounding Haleigh Poutre, the 11-year-old child at the center of the case.
According to the Boston Globe,
Haleigh was hospitalized in September with severe brain injuries. Police say she had been beaten by her stepfather, Jason Strickland and his wife, Holli, who was Haleigh’s adoptive mother.
Within two weeks of being charged with assault and battery, Holli Strickland, who was also Haleigh’s aunt, was found dead alongside her grandmother in a possible murder-suicide. Jason Strickland, a 31-year-old auto mechanic, is free on bail while awaiting trial on assault charges. He could face murder charges if Haleigh dies.
In September, a juvenile court judge granted a request from the state Department of Social Services (DSS) to disconnect Haleigh’s ventilator and feeding tube. Both of Haleigh’s doctors agree she should be removed from the ventilator, but they are split over whether her feeding tube should be disconnected. Continued provision of nutrition and hydration through the feeding tube would, they agree, likely keep Haleigh alive for several months.
Strickland is trying to fight that ruling allowing the withdrawal of treatment by arguing he should be designated as the girl’s de facto parent because he lived with her for four years, and that as Haleighs parent, he has the right to decide to continue treatment.
Haleighs birth mother, who has had little involvement with the child since she released her for adoption, supports the DSS position.
The Massachusetts court was justifiably skeptical of Stricklands claim that he should have any role in deciding the course of his stepdaughters treatment. If the high court, agrees with the juvenile court that Strickland has no legal right to be involved in the case * no standing * the case is likely to end with no review of the challenge to the order permitting withdrawal of ventilation, nutrition, and hydration. Because DSS has legal custody of Haleigh, no one other than the stepfather (who has the ultimate conflict of interest) is likely to bring a legitimate challenge to the order.
– Alicia Ouellette is Director of the Program in Health Law & Ethics at Alden March Bioethics Institute and Associate Lawyering Professor in Albany Law School